By LeeAnn Bernier-Clarke MEd, NCC, NCCC

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

-- The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

Glynnis's Story

Glynnis has always loved art. She left a traditional K-8 grade school at the end of sixth grade and entered an inner city arts magnet middle school so she could have a visual arts class every day. She really enjoyed the program and her skills improved greatly. It gave her the opportunity to compete in a national art competition, which, to her amazement and delight, she won!

Through this experience, she learned a lot about herself. Glynnis found that her artistic temperament resisted the "creativity on command" environment and attitude of a formal art program. She wanted to choose her own subject and style and could not understand why her work was downgraded when she deviated from project rubrics.

So when it came time to apply for high school admission, she decided against a visual arts magnet program. Instead, she chose a technical theater program at a prestigious public youth performing arts school. She thought this would give her the opportunity to blend her interest in art, costume design and theater.

Glynnis enjoyed the camaraderie of the program and learned a lot of new skills. Her academic curriculum was basic college prep, but all of her electives were in the technical theater program.

During production periods, at least six months out of the academic year, she was at school until after 6 p.m. every day. For the two or three weeks of performance each semester, she had to be at every show, doing costuming and make-up, which required her to be out late several school nights a week as well as weekends. She also missed a lot of class time for matinee performances. During these periods, her homework and test performance suffered.

She could not join any clubs or participate in other extracurricular activities and had to go to summer school to get in her foreign language and health requirements. At the end of her sophomore (10th grade) year, she transferred into a basic college prep program on the same campus.

Magnet Options

It is wonderful to have the educational choices available in our community. Clearly, most parents of contemporary teens did not grow up with these options, and they are by no means universal today.

Magnet schools are the innovative outcome of the school-busing era. They provide socioeconomic integration in our public schools, by choice and preference. They add career relevance to education and allow kids to learn with and from people who share their interests. They provide teens with a compatible learning environment to acquire and develop their special skills. Studies have shown that districts offering magnet high school programs decreased their dropout rates and increased matriculation to college and technical schools.

Some magnet middle and high schools are highly specialized; others offer a general college prep or "traditional" school environment. Glynnis's story demonstrates that the highly specialized magnet schools are not for everyone. Neither are the more traditional schools. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity and flexibility to choose and change directions along the way if the first choice proves too limiting or just isn't working.

Advice on Course Planning

Just entering the second semester of her junior (11th grade) year, Glynnis is doing well and enjoying high school. She has joined the Spanish club and enjoys supporting her new interest in health and fitness by working out with her friends after school several days a week. She is able to take photography and drawing classes as electives, and believes she will have plenty of projects to choose from to create her portfolio if she decides to go to an art college. Lately, however, she is considering blending her longstanding interest in criminal psychology with art to pursue a career in art therapy.

During a recent conversation about her high school experiences, Glynnis seemed to have gained a lot of insight and was quite philosophical about her views on education in general. I asked what advice she would give to a person just entering the ninth grade about selecting high school courses. I found her views to be quite enlightening.

Though surely not applicable to everyone, after considering what "the experts" have to say about course planning and selection, I have opted to pass Glynnis's insights along to you because they echo oft-quoted themes while offering the fresh perspective of someone who has lived the theory.

1. Start out high school with an eclectic curriculum of courses. You can always specialize later or in college. This will give you a chance to experiment with a lot of different electives and find out what's really best for you.
2. Draw up a mock four-year schedule. Give yourself the flexibility to change it as you go along. This way you can plainly see what classes are required for graduation and college admission from the start. During your senior (12th grade) year, you will not have to scramble to fit in a required course you missed early on, or have to make it up in summer school.
3. Pace yourself and seek balance. Some kids think that if they take all the courses they find difficult in the first two years of high school, the last two years will be easy and fun. It's important to balance your easy-fun and boring-hard classes throughout the four years. Having all hard classes at once breaks your spirit, negatively impacts your attitude toward school (and life in general) and can lower your grade point average. Also, too many of the same type of courses at one time during the last two years, even in the subject you love, can really burn you out on that field.
4. Pay attention the first week of class each year. Listen to what your teachers say about their expectations and priorities. Ask questions. Review each course syllabus carefully. Did you get into all of the classes you need at this point? Do you have so many demanding courses that you may be set up for an overly stressful year? Be sure each class is what you expected and at the right level for you. If you catch on to potential problems in your course schedule early, you can usually change classes in the first week of school. Talk to your guidance counselor if you think you might need to change your schedule. Your parents can also help you in this process.
5. Leave time for extracurricular activities. You're only a teenager for a short time. Take advantage of your free time to do things you can't do in school or later on in life when you have more responsibilities. Take time to develop your mind, body or talent. Help those in need. Make friends at other schools and of other ages. Don't be a nerd!

Now that's as good or better than anything I could have come up with on my own. It's amazing what you can learn when you really listen to a teenager!

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