Adding an extra year to the original high school requirements is unnecessary for students. Although education is important to succeed in life, forcing students to attend an extra year of school does not guarantee that it will be beneficial. Instead of pushing for students to spend more time in school, they should be preparing for what they are going to be doing in their future. In other countries, students already know what they are going to pursue as a career when going into their fourth year of school. They spend the majority of the year preparing and getting accustomed to what they will be doing in the future. If these students had to attend another year of school, it would delay plans that they already have, and keep them from achieving what they want. Some students already know that going to college will not be an option for them. In Wisconsin, many teens will be taking over their parent’s farms or businesses. Attending an extra year of school is not necessary for the profession they will be going into, therefore it would just be a waste of time. I personally feel that attending another year of school would not be helpful, because students would not be motivated to attend or pay attention while they are in class. High school initially feels like it goes on forever, with an extra year of classes to attend, students could lose interest and not take academics as seriously as they did the first four years. If this results in a drop of a student’s GPA it could ruin their chances of getting into a college they could have originally attended. I believe that making high school five years, instead of the initial four, is unnecessary. Going to another year of school in retrospect might sound like a good idea at first, but in reality it is not beneficial for all students.

Study Hut tutors could not be more excited for the big Finals push. We have students from AVID coming in for private tutoring all week, but we also have a huge event scheduled for Saturday. As in years past, we will be hosting an all day tutoring and study session on campus at Palos Verdes High School. We will have access to multiple different classrooms, and tutors will get to go into different rooms and help students with the specific subjects they need most help with.

This year, there will undoubtedly be math tutoring, science tutoring (including biology tutoring and chemistry tutoring), history tutoring, from World History and EHAP to U.S. History, Government, and Economics tutoring. Math tutoring will include algebra tutoring, geometry tutoring, algebra 2 tutoring, pre-calculus tutoring, trigonometry tutoring, and maybe even some calculus and FTS tutoring.

We will also, of course, have English tutoring, writing tutoring for students with an upcoming final paper, Spanish tutoring (all levels), and probably a few other subjects as well.

The event is free (and required!) for all AVID students, and speaking from past experience, it is an extremely productive event for all students involved. The teachers always come to support, supervise, and offer their knowledge as well.

And best of all, we are getting El Taco Man ordered, so he will be showing up with his cart, and all the tacos any young man or woman can eat. Does it get any better than this? I think not. See you on Saturday.

I hope everyone had a relaxing break and come in fresh for a 2 week push before finals (in the 3rd week back). I look forward to continuing to work with you to meet your academic goals/potential. This is a critical stretch we enter here in 2012. By this time next year you will be knee (or thigh or waist) deep in junior year, on the cusp of taking your SAT and ACT and a semester away from college applications (started in AVID class in spring of junior year). Your preparation now will prepare you for these not too distant academic challenges.

I encourage you as we enter the 2nd semester and then into the summer to create a plan for SAT/ACT study. I think weekend mornings are particularly good right now (30-60 minutes on each weekend day would be outstanding). Then, in the summer, you should ramp up your time commitment to SAT/ACT prep and some of you may even consider doing a prep class. We will commit to SAT prep on a weekly basis next year but an hour or two in AVID class should be a great supplement to additional spent at home (or even with an outside SAT prep class or tutor).

And while I am on the subject of the summer, plan to visit some universities this summer as part of a already planned summer vacation or as a college visit specific trip. There is no need to go crazy on this front but it’s really great to have a few visits under your belt so that by fall of senior year you have a nice idea of your likes and dislikes, and perhaps you’ll even see some schools that you’re excited to apply to!

Again, happy new year! This is a very exciting time of your life. I also know it can be stressful and so I am here to help you work through problems and I hope AVID helps to (sometimes) alleviate some of the stress that comes with being a high school student. Naturally, the biggest thing you can do to alleviate stress is to continue to plug away at the homework and be as proactive as possible with your studies. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance to you.