Pros and Cons of Various High School Diploma Tracks

Diploma types vary from school to school, although in most states, decisions about diploma requirements are made by state education officials. Students should speak with parents and counselors and think carefully before deciding which type of diploma is best for them. Ideally, students should decide on a curriculum before starting their freshman year, although it is sometimes possible to switch. In most cases, students are not â€Å"locked in† to a certain diploma track once they start on one. Students may start out on a track that becomes too demanding and switch to a new track at some point. But be warned! Switching tracks can be dangerous. Students who switch tracks often run the risk of overlooking a class requirement until late in their curriculum. This can lead to (yikes) summer school or (worse) late graduation. The type of diploma a student chooses will affect his or her future choices. For instance, students who choose to complete a vocational or technical prep diploma will be somewhat limited in their options after high school. In most cases, this type of degree prepares students for entering the workplace or enrolling in a technical college. Many colleges require the completion of a college prep diploma as an admission requirement. If you have your heart set on a big university from your home state, be sure to check the minimum admission requirement and plan your diploma track accordingly. More selective colleges like to see that students have completed a more rigorous curriculum than the one required in a general college prep diploma, and those colleges may require an honors diploma (or seal), an advanced college prep diploma, or an International Baccalaureate diploma. Similar types of diplomas may have different names from state to state. For instance, some high schools offer a general diploma. Other school systems may call the same diploma type an academic diploma, a standard diploma, or a local diploma. This type of diploma gives students greater flexibility in choosing courses, but it might limit the student’s choices for post-secondary options. Unless the student chooses courses very carefully, the general diploma probably won’t meet the minimum requirements of many selective colleges. But there is an exception to every rule! Not all colleges use diplomas as a deciding factor when they consider students for acceptance. Many private colleges will accept general diplomas and even technical diplomas. Private colleges can set their own standards, since they do not have to follow state mandates. Common Diploma Types Technical/Vocational Students must complete a combination of academic courses and vocational or technical courses. General Student must complete a certain number of credits and maintain a minimum GPA. College Prep Students must complete a state-mandated curriculum and maintain a certain GPA. Honors College Prep Students must complete a state-mandated curriculum that is complemented by additional rigorous coursework. Students must achieve a high academic level and maintain a certain GPA. International Baccalaureate Students must complete a specific two-year international curriculum to meet standards set by The International Baccalaureate Organization. This challenging curriculum is normally completed in the final two years of high school by qualified students who have completed a highly academic pre-baccalaureate curriculum.

The French Revolution And The Revolution - 1985 Words

The French Revolution in 1789 marked an important turn in European history. It indicated the end of Absolutism and the implementation of ideas of the Enlightenment based on liberty, equality, and personal freedom. It took away power from the monarchy and in turn focused on the people of France and way they had to say. Eventually, the revolution turned France into a society based on the enlightenment and historians, to this day, continue to debate the causes of the French Revolution. The most significant cause of the French Revolution was Absolutism because it was supported by the Three Estates, allowed unsuitable monarchs to rule the country, and caused the spread of Enlightenment ideas. Absolutism is a system of government in which the monarch exerts complete control over the country’s land and people. In an Absolute monarchy, the government and its power is centralized at the country’s capital. Land owned by European monarchs by the end of the Renaissance became the countries of Europe known today. These powerful monarchies existed in Austria, Russia, and modern day Germany, as well as France, Portugal, and England. By the early 1600s, Absolute monarchy was established. Many monarchs were felt that they had divine right, the belief that monarchs were destined by God to reign and to go against that would be considered a crime. This belief helped ensure Absolutism because it allowed the monarch to actually claim all the power for himself since the people would considerShow MoreRelatedThe French Revolution And French Revolutions2006 Words   |  9 PagesAlthough the American and French revolutions both took place in the late 18th century, both fought fo r independence, and both portrayed patriotism, the revolutions are markedly different in their origins; one which led to the world’s longest lasting democracy and the other to a Napoleonic Dictatorship. Political revolutions in America and France happened because people felt dissatisfied with the way their country was run. In North America they rebelled against rule from a foreign power, they wantedRead MoreThe Revolution Of The French Revolution1040 Words   |  5 PagesWhile there were political and social causes of The French Revolution the most important cause was actually economic. A few years before the French’s revolution the French spent approximately 1.3 billion livres, 13 billion dollars, on the American Revolution. This gracious contribution caused trouble at home. The French Revolution was one of the most important events in history. While it changed the social structure in France it also affected many different countries across the world. â€Å"the treeRead MoreThe French Revolution And The Revolution1640 Words   |  7 Pages The French Revolution is often seen as one of the most influential and significant events in world history (Voices 9). The surge of rebellion present in those against the old regime, or Ancien Rà ©gime, inspired reformers for generations to come. Nevertheless, the French Revolution would not have occurred without the aid of the Enlightenment Thinkers, or Philosophà ©s. These Philosophà ©s’ ideas sparked the French Revolution. Prior to the French Revolution, France was radically different. It was theRead MoreThe French Revolution And The Revolution1336 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis The French Revolution was such an important time history. Not only was it a massacre with many lives being lost, including that of Queen Marie Antoinette and her husband King Louis XVI, it was also a time of great political turmoil which would turn man against man that being the case of Edmond Burke and Thomas Paine. Edmond Burke a traditionalist who believed the people should be loyal to the king against his former friend, Thomas Paine a free thinker who believed in order for things toRead MoreThe French Revolution And The Revolution1221 Words   |  5 PagesWhen people think of the French Revolution, they immediately think of the country of France and how the Revolution affected it. What most people do not think about however, is how the Revolution affected other countries, specifically the country of England. England was affected positively and negatively by the Revolution in that there was an increase of political involvement, but there was a collapse in the economy due to war d eclared by France. The French Revolution created a battle of conflictingRead MoreThe French Revolution And The Revolution1223 Words   |  5 Pages French Revolution As the Enlightenment began in the middle of the 17th century, people began to use reason rather than stick to tradition. New Enlightenment ideas spread throughout Europe such as ideas on government. Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousenan believed that the best government was one formed with the general consent of the people. Other Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Montesquieu believed in freedom of speech and a separation of power within the government. All of theseRead MoreRevolutions And The French Revolution956 Words   |  4 Pages Revolutions are a common occurrence throughout world history. With the amount of revolutions in history, there are those that get lost and those that are the most remembered or well known. One of the well known revolutions is the French Revolution which occurred in the years 1789 to 1799. 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This is considered a major turning point in European history which has led to dramatic changes in France and other regions of the world. Various social and political issues led to the start of the revolution. Politically, France suffered under the rule of Louis XVI, who ruled by absolute monarchy. Many people had their natural rights renounced and weren’t able to have a political voice. SociallyRead MoreThe French Revolution And The Revolution1180 Words   |  5 PagesLooking at the historical timeline, one can see that the French Revolution derived after the Enlightenment, which brought different ways of thinking, and different outlooks on government and society (553),(555),(558). The Enlightenment also changed the world of public debate, and established some ideas central to the French Revolution. The French Revolution of 1789 occurred due to government debt, class co nflict, bankruptcy, the Enlightenment, and the rule of absolutism. These social, economic, and

A Single Youth Culture Essay Research Paper free essay sample

A Single Youth Culture? Essay, Research Paper Youth civilization and young person subcultures have been a topic of research since the early 1930s. It is most surely true today that there is non one remarkable young person civilization but a assortment of different young person subcultures. The 90 # 8217 ; s can non be described as the same as the 60 # 8217 ; s or 70 # 8217 ; s or even the 80 # 8217 ; s.There are many grounds put frontward by sociologists for this such as there are more manners available today, media influences us more and there is a higher disposable income per family to pass on manners. This paper will research the grounds behind the being of young person civilizations in old old ages and why the same format has non occured in the 1990 # 8217 ; s. Defining # 8216 ; youth # 8217 ; can be hard and is described in the Concise Oxford Dictionary as: # 8220 ; the province of being immature, the period between childhood and grownup age # 8221 ; # 8211 ; Oxford Dictionary ( 1990 ) . This would bespeak that young person is described as an age group and people can be distinguished by the different age groups. However, it could be questioned that non all kids stop being kids at the same clip. Frith describes youth as # 8220 ; non merely an age group, but the societal organisation of an age group # 8221 ; Sociologists of young person, harmonizing to Frith, describe young person civilization as # 8220 ; the manner of life shared by immature people # 8221 ; . Subculture, as defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is a # 8216 ; cultural group within a larger civilization frequently holding beliefs or involvements at discrepancy with those of the larger civilization # 8217 ; . This would connote that a subculture is a subdivision of a national civilization ; it exists between the parametric quantities of certain civilizations. TalcottParsons saw youth subcultures normally holding of import positive maps in easing the passage from childhood to full grownup life in matrimony and occupational position. It would look that the bulk of people leave these young person subcultures at some latter point, frequently at the point of matrimony, therefore Parsons theory could be justified. Empirical observation carried out by sociologists find that youth sub-cultures have a distinguishable single manner. They have certain ways of dressing ( i.e. places, vesture and hairdos ) , talking ( i.e. slang ) , listening to music and assemblage in similar topographic points i.e. rockerss at race meetings and bars and ravers at dance nines or out-of-door raves. It is so assumed that shared activities reflect shared values. Firth states that # 8220 ; civilization is all learned behaviour which has been socially acquired # 8221 ; To concentrate on the rockerss of the 60 # 8217 ; s seems suiting. This was one big young person civilization and still exists is a smaller subdivision of society. It could be said that non all rockerss today portion the same values and bask the same activities as do the 60s manner of rockerss. This could be because members of the subculture interrupt away from a peculiar group or neer # 8216 ; join # 8217 ; in the first topographic point. Age could hold deductions here ; the passage from young person to grownup may find how long a member stays in one peculiar subculture. Although there are discrepancies of bike-boys they were loosely from a working category background and were seen as foreigners and lone wolfs linked by the love of motor-bikes and heavy stone music. Their manner was masculine and their visual aspect was aggressive. The motor-cycle cogwheel looked tough with its leather he-man, jean and heavy leather boots. Hair was worn long in a oily swept-back manner and many were tattooed on the custodies, weaponries and thorax. A typical eventide for the motorcycle male childs would dwell of substitutions of the same activities: a drink and a game of darts in their local saloon, a game of pinball and a java in the java saloon and general horseplay and yak in a nine. Paul Willis conducted an ethnographic survey of a group of rockerss during the 70s and described the group as being about all male and from typical working category backgrounds. The composing of Willis # 8217 ; s group revealed members working backgrounds included scaffolders, foundry workers, pupils, a milkman and a figure of unemployed. However, it could be argued that today # 8217 ; s rockerss come from a assortment of category and professional backgrounds from bricklayers to bankers. In Britain, the general frights about immature people and young person subcultures have been focused on working category young person manners. The immature people concerned, harmonizing to Frith # 8220 ; come from working category households and vicinities, have a on the job category experience of turning up, in lower watercourse of school and leave every bit shortly as possible frequently going unemployed or traveling through a sequenc e on dead-end jobs. # 8217 ; This appeared to be the instance in Willis # 8217 ; s survey which seemed to follow a Marxist position. However different young person groups are from each other, i.e. rockerss as opposed to the more # 8216 ; recent # 8217 ; ravers, they appear to shock # 8217 ; straight # 8217 ; society and are frequently labelled pervert or delinquent. Young person has been seen as a # 8217 ; societal job # 8217 ; for at least one hundred old ages. Analysis of youth civilization in Britain has been influenced chiefly by Marxist idea. Marx believed all civilizations are produced by # 8217 ; societal conditions # 8217 ; and that these # 8217 ; societal conditions # 8217 ; depend upon societal category and the jobs societal category provides ; age, harmonizing to Marx, was besides a subscriber. It is just to state that societal conditions have greatly improved in Britain since the 1960 # 8217 ; s and societal category seems about a thing of the past with John Major # 8217 ; s # 8216 ; classless society # 8217 ; and Tony Blair claiming that we are # 8216 ; all in-between category # 8217 ; . If a youth civilization is attatched to a societal category and societal categories are now partially disintegrated so this explains why there has been no significant young person civilization in a decennary. Although rockerss, as a subculture, still exist today, it would look that alterations have been made as to the composing of members within the subculture ; their values, beliefs and shared activities. The # 8216 ; ravers # 8217 ; from the 1880ss are a good illustration of another post-war young person civilization. During the late 80s, immature people with bandanas, brilliantly coloured apparels and a deranged expression in their eyes were being presented as the following young person subculture. For the ravers ( besides known as clubbers ) the shared experience is go toing a rave and perchance taking rapture which has become synonymous wi th the rave civilization. This is frequently the lone thing ravers have in common with each other unlike other subcultures. These parties, where extended usage of stroboscope lighting and psychedelic imagination was used, were attended by immature males and females stereotypically dressed in loose-fitting outsize Jerseies, path suits and loose-fitting denims. The apparels were comfy, brilliantly gap oured and cheap. The intensive dancing to fast beating music, along with the use of hypnotic drugs, went hand-in-hand. This style of clothing suited excessive body movement, however, this fashion style began to change. With interest coming from the fashion industry, the style began to change and evolve. Baggy clothes for girls were replaced by tight body-hugging outfits made of materials such as lycra emphasising appearance rather than comfort and practicality. It is difficult to define the common experiences that lead people to go to raves. It could be that many youths wanted a form of ‘escapism’ to get away from the norms of every day life or problems like unemployment. Most ravers only attend raves or clubs at the weekend; it could be argued that rave is more a leisure pursuit as opposed to a subculture. Ravers appear to cut across all social divisions, classes, gender and age. Unlike the 60s bikers, ravers are not exclusive to the working class, the unemployed or d ominated by male members. It is difficult to make analogies between the common experiences of an eighteen year old student and a thirty year old computer analyst both attending raves on a Saturday night Willis argues that the age of spectacular subcultures are gone for good. This is because there are so many style and taste cultures which offer young people different ways of expressing their identity. He claims that there is too much diversity for any single youth subculture to dominate society. The growth of capitalist culture and leisure industries has meant that all young people now have access to the cultural resources they need to engage in ’symbolic creativity’ in their leisure time. Basically, youth culture has become complicated. There are so many different theories now that they could easily come into doubt. It would seem that, when comparing the two different subcultures, that patterns and common beliefs differ and have changed over the last 20 years. Bikers had a tighter sense of belonging to their subculture than the more recent ravers. Society appears to be so complex now; there seems to be a wider social system with changes in class, occupational structure, neighborhood structure and family and leisure patterns. Today’s youth subcultures point to an interweaving of style with gender, class and age which follows a more contemporary outlook as opposed to some of the classic theories. Under post-modern conditions, identities appear to be in a constant state of change: individuals move freely from one sub-cultural group and enthusiasm to another; they mix and match what were formerly distinct categories like the 60s bikers. Style, enjoyment, excitement, escape from boredom at work or play, being attractive to ones self have now become central life concerns. Media also plays a great part in the prevention of a nw youth culture forming. Nowadays young people have access to the ‘back catalogue’ of previous forms of musi c and subcultural styles through television stations and magazines. Subcultural dress now becomes a matter of surface style. Furthermore, during the 1980s, market researchers began to change ways in which they saw the various groups of consumers. This change in the way in which consumption patterns are perceived by market researchers from being seen as influenced by socio-economic class to being seen as influenced by life-cycle stages. Mike Featherstone has written: â€Å"The term life-style is currently in vogue. While the term has a more restricted sociological meaning in reference to the distinctive style of life of specific status groups, within contemporary consumer culture it connotes individuality, self expression, and a stylistic self-consciousness. Ones body, clothes, speech, leisure pastimes, eating and drinking preferences, home, car, choice of holidays, etc. are to be regarded as indicators of the individuality of taste and sense of style of the owner/consumer. In contr ast to the designation of the 1950s as an era of grey conformism, a time of mass consumption, changes in production techniques, market segmentation and consumer demand for a wider range of products, are often regarded as making possible greater choice (the management of which becomes an art form) not only for the youth of the post 1960s generation, but increasingly for the middle aged and the elderly†¦..we are moving towards a society without fixed status groups in which the adoption of styles of life (manifest in choice of clothes, leisure activities, consumer goods, bodily disposition) which are fixed to specific groups have been surpassed. It is also worth noting that in recent years the subcultures that have occured have been seen to be deviant such as the skinheads, ravers, football ‘hooligans’ and punks. Two different, yet similar, deviant groups can be used to describe the entire deviant subculture. Those who classify themselves as punks and anarchists are o ne type and those that spout â€Å"free love† and peace (hippies) are another type of deviant subculture. The first group chooses to be social outcasts because of a hatred of norms. This group attempts to destroy society and with it the means for bettering it. They believe in a type of anarchy that stems from loathing toward excepted values and refuse to get jobs or even conform to society in the most basic ways. Hippies on the other hand choose a method of peace and tranquility, believing that people should all love one another and anarchy would be beautiful if everyone could simply understand how to live at peace with themselves and nature. Although both groups believe in anarchy one chooses hate and aggression to show their views while the other uses love and passive resistance to demonstrate theirs. Both of these groups have a very specific and useful function in a society. They both show the need for change in a radical way, acting as a catalyst for social change. Howeve r, nowadays it is valid to say that there are other ways of expressing our hatred of norms. There are political parties and pressure groups to join, there are a number of relaxational therapies available and the use of psychologists is much more widespread. All hope of meaningful cultural activity is denied; young people face a future in which any genuine radicalism is quickly incorporated into the commercial marketing system and used to sell more commodities. Although there are a number of subcultures left in today’s society such as ’surfies’, ‘townies’ and people who follow the grunge movement, there is no singular youth culture left.