Need help

[deadly7]

I've got a request for all of you (yes, even Crazed!). I need to write a proposal for the district curriculum for my superintendent and I'm just wondering if you guys can help me out by thinking up things that (in general) could be wrong with such a proposal.. I don't need any help with the proposal itself, just I need to argue out alll the other points too.
If you want to know why, feel free to send me a message on AIM if you can catch me.

[Sidoh]

Were you waiting for some responses until you posted some detail?  What I've extrapolated is that you have a problem with the curriculum and you're wanting to make sure you're not making any gaffes.  Is that about right?

[deadly7]

Were you waiting for some responses until you posted some detail?  What I've extrapolated is that you have a problem with the curriculum and you're wanting to make sure you're not making any gaffes.  Is that about right?

Ok, here's the situation (since it might help):
As most of you know, I am still in high school but don't actually GO to my high school (I'm enrolled full-time at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities). Now, for the Senior requirement for my high school, British Literature is required. The only British Literature classes offered at the U of M are Junior-in-college level classes, which is completely overkill. I reported the information to my counselor and asked her if I could take Shakespeare, the most notable British writer (arguable), and she said "No" because the curriculum does not support it. I asked the English Dept head, and he said the same thing. Both of them, howeevr, agreed that it was overkill. They suggested I take it at the high school, which is HIGHLY impractical. So, I talked to my principal. My principal asked the grad standards committee and they said no but never really gave a reason. He told me to write up a detailed proposal and he would go talk to the superintendent about it and argue my points with my proposal. My proposal is simply: I should be allowed to take Shakespeare, which is a freshman class at the UofM and thus MUCH closer in difficulty to the AP class offered, while not being the same material in entirity.
Another tidbit is graduation requirements. Because the high school splits up the Freshman Comp requirements in Junior/Senior english classes, that means that I have to take two writing classes (one of them I've already done--a true Freshman Comp class at the U), which is also ridiculous--8 credits at a University level for a .5credit high school (which "translates" to I believe 2 credits at the university) class is also gross overkill, as the freshman comp class is a very detailed course on what actual college writing is like, from my brief experience. So part of my proposal is also that only one writing class be needed, and it be the specific course that I had taken (as even the U of M acknowledges it as a freshman composition course, and I believe it's mandatory).

[CrAz3D]

Dude, actually write the whole proposal out, then maybe we can help you.  It sounds like you have a fundation for your ideas, you just need to spell it all out.

[iago]

Dude, actually write the whole proposal out, then maybe we can help you.

I'd suggest a point-form outline first.

[deadly7]

http://www.dark-wire.net/deadly7/U
The two files in there are basically all the points I could think of in since I posted this.
Feel free to destroy the arguments (note: I did leave some things intentionally blank) or come up with other things to argue that I haven't thought up already.
Thanks for all the help in advance

[Newby]

1. Type it. Much easier to read. Right off the bat, you're pwned.

[deadly7]

1. Type it. Much easier to read. Right off the bat, you're pwned.

I always write up my outlines before I type them. Or did you not see the big title "Outline" at the top of the page? :P

[Newby]

1. Type it. Much easier to read. Right off the bat, you're pwned.

I always write up my outlines before I type them. Or did you not see the big title "Outline" at the top of the page? :P

Typing = easier to read, even if it is an outline. Plus, I've got palmar hyperhidrosis, so I despise writing. Hell, I despise typing, but less so. :P

[deadly7]

Typing = easier to read, even if it is an outline. Plus, I've got palmar hyperhidrosis, so I despise writing. Hell, I despise typing, but less so. :P

Writing = much easier to edit / organize your thoughts on. If I had a stylus/writable screen, it'd be a different story. :P

[iago]

I write, then when I'm happy I transcribe. But that's just me. :)

[deadly7]

So... is anybody going to actually help me or can I just close this?

[Ender]

Does the PSEU program (redundant?) normally allow one to completely substitute high school credits with university credits? Is that part of its purpose?

If not, then my counterargument would be: a high school diploma isn't about covering the school's curriculum. If it were, you could walk up to some random high school in Alaska and ask them for a diploma. They have GEDs for that. Instead, high school diplomas are all about the student pulling Ds or above in a minimum number of classes. If you didn't take anywhere close to that number of classes at your high school, the Alaska analogy aptly applies, and you don't deserve a high school diploma.

If the PSEU program is meant to be a diploma-granting alternative to high school, or you took close to the minimum in your high school, then the counterargument isn't nearly as strong. Though you could incorporate it in order to kill it, in case the committee is thinking along those lines.

[deadly7]

It's PSEO* first of all (sorry, my writing is probably really crappy and hard to read when scanned poorly). And the point of the program is to take college classes while receiving college AND high school credit for the classes. So I don't think that your analogy applies then. Thanks for trying though. :|

If the PSEU program is meant to be a diploma-granting alternative to high school, or you took close to the minimum in your high school, then the counterargument isn't nearly as strong. Though you could incorporate it in order to kill it, in case the committee is thinking along those lines.

I don't understand what you mean by this, does it tie into your analogy or are you stating in general?

[Ender]

Then I suppose a counterargument, given that the PSEO is designed to transfer credits, is that a high school diploma testifies that a student has satisfactorily covered the areas of knowledge important to that town or city, and since Brit Lit was on the curriculum, it is clearly important to your specific high school. They would say: what you're asking for is a GED, not a high school diploma!