To stay or not to stay? High school dilemma

[mickbab]

Hi all,

I am currently in Year 10 (Australia) and it is time to start choosing subjects for my senior years.

My problem is that my subjects don't quite work out the way I want them to. This is fine for now, I can just pick up subjects I don't really want and then drop them in a years time.

However...
There is a solution to the problem.

About 20-30 minutes away from home (current school is 10), there is an Education Campus consisting of a University, TAFE, and a Senior College (Yr 11 +12).
The line pattern at the Senior College (why do I keep typing senior with a u - seniour? ) is really good and it is annoying because I like where I am.
BTW the Senior College is run more like a University (large classes, long lectures etc.) with the idea that it will prepare us better for when we finish high school.

Subjects if you were wondering are:
Extension and Advanced Maths, Physics, Extension and Advanced English, Software Design and Development, and Ancient History.
I'm only doing Extension English to fill my unit requirements.
Also if SDD doesn't run (which is likely), then I will have to pick either Economics or Biology
Picking Ancient History means I can't do Chemistry - unless I drop Extension Maths, which I am not doing.


So really my two options are:

1. Stay at my current high school. Closer to home, friends are there, I know the teachers, more school-like. Don't get all the subjects I want.

2. Go to Senior College. Further from home, only a few people from school are going, entirely new environment and teachers, more university-like. Get all the subjects I would like.


Does anyone have any suggestions on whether I should go or stay?
At this point in time I am looking at staying.
But - if the subjects don't work out (we have only just done our subject preferences yesterday) I am highly considering moving, to get the subjects I want.

Thoughts/comments please!

Thanks, mickbab

 

[jackiecanev2]

Wirelessly posted (BB 8900: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

I would go. Iwas in a similar situation, and chose to leave my local school for a commuter school that offered more advanced classes. I've never regretted it once. You will make new friends (academically motivated friends, to boot). People say What you did and studied in HS doesn't matter, but t lays the groundwork for your undergraduate years and, if for no other reason, will affect what kind of uni you get in to. People also say that how your undergraduate studies go doesn't matter, it's your last degree that doesn't matter. Let me tell you, when you are applying for fellowships and jobs no one will care what your HS gpa is or where ou went to school or what advanced classes you took. But your college admissions counselor will. Etc.

It's your education and your future; > friends and comfort.

 

[maflynn]

I'm not sure what's the right answer but ask yourself this.

which school will prepare you better for the future? While its understandable to choose the school because of "comfort", i.e., friends, ease etc. It may not prepare you as well. If that's the case option 2 may be a better choice. Only you can determine if which option fits your needs the best.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Do you have an active friend group social life?

If you do, I say stay. You can always catch up in Uni. or even take on-line courses for college while in high school. At least you can where I live.

As an older fart sees it, you'll be working the rest of your life but those years in high school with life long friends can't be gotten back.

 

[Signal-11]

Do you have an active friend group social life?

If you do, I say stay. You can always catch up in Uni. or even take on-line courses for college while in high school. At least you can where I live.

As an older fart sees it, you'll be working the rest of your life but those years in high school with life long friends can't be gotten back.

Well, as a guy who dropped out of high school after 10th grade and started university a couple years early, I can tell you there's pros and cons of either option.

The argument that a student will have plenty of opportunities later is a very strong one, but is most applicable to the US style system, where a person has a lot of freedom to choose different academic paths well into university.

On the other hand, for systems where a person is tracked into more specific paths fairly earlier on in the academic process, there are more advantages in starting early.

TS is going to be in the same boat as everyone else in class if he chooses the 'senior college' route so it's not like he's not going to have a peer group from which he'll make friends. Besides, he's commuting, not moving across the country to go to school.

I say go for it.

 

[Randman]

Go.

 

[jake.f]

You see I faced the exactly same question just today, and I mean EXACTLY the same question.
You should go.