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My old high school was one of the only ones in the area that had an ‘open campus lunch’.

Our high school used to be crowded, with around 3,000 kids. Our school wasn’t built for even two-thirds of that, so there was no chance of accommodating that many students at lunch time. As such, there was no choice but to have an ‘open campus’ at lunch.

An open campus allows kids to leave the school during lunch, just so long as they’re back in time for class afterwards. You could go anywhere: out to fast food, back home briefly, walk to a local store, wherever.

After arriving at high school from middle school, the thought of an open campus lunch was probably the coolest thing I had ever thought of. I remember my first lunch at high school, I walked to a local market and bought some food. I felt so grown-up.

With an open campus lunch, the big thing was always having your license and a car, even moreso than normal. Once you had both, you had the freedom to go wherever you wanted during lunch. Of course, once everyone else fond out, they would pounce on you like wolves to try to be taken out to lunch.

With so many kids leaving campus though, you can imagine the traffic around the school and the crowds at restaurants. If you didn’t skedaddle to leave campus after 4th period, you had to face enormous lines and risk being late for class.

But if you were lucky enough to be early, there was plenty of time to arrive, eat, and make it back without being late.

Unfortunately, eating out becomes expensive, as well as the gas to get there. By the end of my senior year, I was tired of wasting money and actually ended up staying around on campus a lot more. I was surprised how empty the campus was.

At one point, the school board tried to end open campus. A new high school (one with a closed campus) had been built that, in theory, would have lowered the amount of students enough that we could now accommodate all of us at lunch. The truth was that the parents of the new school complained because their kids couldn’t leave at lunch, so the school board wanted to stop receiving complaints.

But the students fought it like there was no tomorrow. We housed sit-ins at our school to show them how bad of an idea it was. Virtually every teacher and administrator agreed that it was a terrible idea. I spoke with the superintendent personally to tell her what a terrible idea it would be.

The school board held more meetings to ‘reasses’ the idea, and in the end, open campus won.

Having an open campus was a great opportunity as a student to learn how to manage money and time. Even though it was almost closed, students were glad to finally be seen as mature enough to handle themselves during the lunch hour.

Has anyone else ever had an open-campus lunch at high school?

In California, public universities are divided into three tiers: Community colleges, CSUs, and UCs.

Community colleges are pretty simple: they’re local 2-year schools that can get you an associates degree and/or help you transfer up to a 4-year university. On the other hand, both CSUs and UCs are both 4-year universities.

When I was a senior, people from all three tiers came to talk to us. I listened to both what the CSU representatives and the UC representative had to say.

The basic difference is that UCs are the next tier above CSUs. That’s not to say that UCs are necessarily better, but that the main focus is different. CSUs are more oriented towards practical use, whereas UCs are much more research-based. Take a look at the majors offered by both types of schools: you’ll see what I mean.

Here’s a further break-down about the differences:

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Typically, colleges will divide the academic year using either the semester system or a quarter system. The two are very different, and if you’re not ready for the switch, it can be very tough on you.

Most high schools use the semester system: you receive one set of permanent grades after the first semester ends (around Christmas) and one set of permanent grades at the end of the school year. Between semesters, you might switch a few classes around.

However, some colleges opt for what’s known as the ‘quarter system’ instead. The quarter system is far more fast-paced than the semester, and getting used to the difference can be a bit tough.

So what’s the essential difference between the two? Is one better than the other? It really comes down to your study habits as a student and your own preferences. Keep reading »

Many high school graduates receive the lucky gift of a brand new computer for college after graduating. Some kids already have one, others save up for the money to buy one.

Regardless of how you got your computer, nowadays it’s pretty standard that kids should have a computer if they are leaving for college. Most people are quick to realize this, and so chances are good you’ve got the computer issue covered.

But do you have the software you’ll need? A lot of students will buy a computer but completely forget that a computer needs good software to do anything. Computers usually come with trial versions of popular software (Norton Antivirus, Microsoft Office, etc.), but what do you do when these trials run out? Either you purchase the software (expensive), or you have to live without it.

Living without some better-known names might sound tough, but in fact many wonderful free alternatives exist that will not only save you money, but might actually work better for you.

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In San Antonio, Texas, a school is trying out new ankle bracelets for students who have been caught ditching class or who have had discipline problems, it seems. The bracelet will monitor them using the GPS system, so authorities will be able to track where the kids are round-the-clock.

Students will not be able to remove the bracelet for up to six months.

This is terrible. What right does the school have to know where a kid is all hours of the day? Everybody needs privacy, and being forced to be monitored around the clock for something as tame as skipping a day of class is just pathetic. Privacy is valuable to everyone, and to know that someone could be watching you all the time just shows the sad direction we’ve been heading in discipline for some time now.

Not only is it a civil liberty question, this policy also won’t really benefit the student. What happens when these kids go to college or get a job? They aren’t going to have an ankle bracelet there, and they’ll be free to skip class or bail on work whenever they want to. The best way to help to start good habits about attending class is to create relevant punishments — perhaps they can’t turn in their work from that day they missed, perhaps they can’t take the test when they come back, etc. The punishment needs to relate to the class itself, and it should definitely not infringe on a student’s privacy.

The only time I can see this measure being logical is when the student’s whereabouts are a matter of safety to other students. As a punishment, it’s not at all effective. Along with making kids wear prison jumpsuits for violating the dress code, this seems to be yet another way to associate students with prisoners. Students go to school to learn how to be adults, not to be watched over like criminals.

What do you think? Is this going too far or is there a good reason to resort to GPS ankle bracelets?

Lately, more and more schools have begun considering a ‘pay-for-performance’ method, where kids are rewarded for high test scores. Basically, if a student scores well on a test, then both that student and the teacher will receive some sort of cash reward.

Should money be given to students for doing well on tests?

Students in AP classes will receive more of an award because they are taking a harder class. Apparently, this has already created a 60% increase in the enrollment in some AP classes.

The idea is that by providing a direct incentive like money, kids will be more motivated to take tests more seriously and to push themselves to take a harder class.

As with the school uniforms debate, this is a controversial issue as well. Many believe that the money could be better used elsewhere: to reduce classroom sizes, to provide better learning materials, and so forth.

Currently seven states take part in it: Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia, with plans to expand.

From a student’s point of view, I can definitely see this being nice. I took fairly advanced classes without having money to motivate me, but I might have taken one or two more if I would have received something for it. And, of course, being paid for ones I was already taking would have been cool too.

So what do you think? Is paying kids to do better worth it, or should that money be spent elsewhere? For more info on the idea, read this news article.

This is a bit off the usual track of my normal “How To” and “Here are some tips!” posts, but sometimes it’s good to take a break from the ordinary.

I’m currently in the longest summer vacation I’ve ever had. My high school graduated at the end of May (which is earlier than usual for us) and I leave for college in mid-September.

So, I have the luxury of a nice 3 1/2 month summer. It’s been fun — albeit too fast, but what summer isn’t?

Both the high school and the local college started up this last Monday, so now all of my friends who are either going to the local college or are still in high school are now busy. This leaves good ol’ Paul (me) with tons of free time in the early day.

It’s nice not having to worry about school just yet, but it does feel weird. For the first time in my life, I’m not ‘supposed’ to be in school. You know when you ditch school or you’re home sick and you know in the back of your head that you should be in school? It feels like that, only this time I’m not supposed to be in school. It’s definitely different.

I’ve been enjoying the free time. I started working out again (I’m lazy, it’s hard for me to keep the habit), I began practicing guitar more regularly, and I’ve been preparing to leave for college. All in all it’s been a great summer, and in fact my post about enjoying summer contains a lot of things I’ve done this summer or tried to do.

Is there anyone else there who is enjoying a longer summer this year?

The other day, I was reading a blog post how Texas schools are considering forcing students who violate the dress code to put on a prison jumpsuit. While that doesn’t directly relate to school uniforms, it got me really thinking more and more about the ever-continuing debate about whether or not school uniforms are worth the trouble.

The debate over school uniforms always gets people fired up

One thing I’ve noticed about the school uniform debate is that parents tend to be more in favor of it, and kids tend to be more opposed. Being young, I’m against it. I went to a private school where uniforms were required from kindergarten right through 6th grade, then I went to public school where free dress was the norm from then on.

I have to admit, when you’re at a school where uniforms are already a policy, being told what to wear doesn’t seem like a big deal at a time. But if a school were to switch from a free dress policy to a uniform policy… that wouldn’t go over so well.

The school uniform debate is undoubtedly a complex issue, but here are some commonly discussed pros and cons and what I make of them:

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