It’s Sunday again! Time to “blog your blessings”. Are you playing yet? If not, visit The Blue Panther Experience to get more details, including the code for the blogroll.
Last Sunday, I bragged out my youngest, Matthew. This week I am expressing my thankfulness for #1Son. He is going to be 20 next month (I can’t believe he’s that old, but I digress … ) and this past week he began his studies at a new school: He transferred from the community college to a four-year university where he is a junior. He could have transferred sooner, but he was way ahead of the curve by the time he finished high school so he took it easy for a little while. He attended a middle college high school which, for those of you who don’t know, is a small, public 
high school housed on a community college campus. The students take both high school and college courses — free of charge. Their books are even loaned to them by the school.
Most students have about a year of college completed by the time they finish high school (30 units). In the case of #1Son, he had 44 units finished, mostly general education-qualifying, by the time he graduated from high school with honors in 2005.
The program is akin to taking high school honors classes, passing the comprehensive exam at the end of the year, and earning college credits. But I think it is preferable because everything does not hinge upon passing a test. Rather, the student just takes the college course instead of the high school class. High school and college credit is awarded.
Middle college is not for every student. First of all, because the school is on a college campus, the students have to be able to interact successfully with the other students. And because it is a community college, those other students are all ages. Students must be mature and responsible enough to attend their college classes regularly — there are no bells ringing to remind them, for instance — and perform college-level work. There are no intramural sports, although the students can participate in the college’s programs and classes. They must, in fact, take physical education courses there. Many of the traditional high school programs are not available, but are replaced by the vast resources of the college.
Matthew is currently attending a private nondenominational Christian high school, but is thinking about transferring to the middle college high school as a junior to get a jump on college, too.
#1Son wants to be a teacher or social worker so he will probably major in either Liberal Studies or Sociology. He has now begun work on his upper division general education requirements.
I still think he is going to end up being a lawyer like his mother, but I get “talk to the hand” if I even whisper the words “law school.” We’ll see!
When I was a kid and my mother got exasperated with me, which was often, she used to exclaim, “I hope you grow up, get married and have a kid who is just like you. Then you’ll find out what it’s like to deal with you.”
I did.
#1Son is so much like me that it’s scary. He drives his father nuts. And Matthew is just like his father and drives me nuts. One of each. Our family is perfectly fair and balanced.
So I thought I would share one of the graphics from the Valentine’s Day card #1Son gave me. It was perfect, especially the “Like Mother — Like Child” book on the top of the stack!
{ 1 comment }
Thanks for the informative post. I’ll have to subscribe to your feed so I don’t miss the next post!
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