Sunday, May 3, 2009

I am not sure I graduated from Highschool.

I um, have a diploma from it. And I think since UCSC admitted me and I am a junior there, it is kind of irrelevant. But I was trying to make sense of my amazingly convoluted transcript, and I am not totally sure I took enough math to graduate.

First let me sort of describe how complicated it is: My transcript starts with two electives taken the summer before I started 9th grade. I am sure I took them then, because I had never met any of the students or teachers, and at a school of 100 people I would certainly have known them all if it was August of 2004, which was *after* my freshman year, which is what the transcript says. My first college class is listed as Merritt College Grd 09 8/2004. Now, that is indeed when I took that course, although there was a whole thing about never taking a course until you were a sophomore, aka entering sophomore year. And sophomore=Grd 10.

Only 3 classes are completely missing from my transcript:Enterprise:BASE, Composition, and Geometry. I took an academic elective at BASE my entire senior year, and never noticed that it is missing from this transcript. I have my Peralta college transcript here as well, and it says I took Composition and Reading Spring 2007, and that is definitely not on my transcript. Of course (of course) I got an A in it, and an A in my academic elective. and, ugh, I did hundreds of hours of BASE community service that I guess I thought would just, you know, carry over, but my community service is listed as "total 0.00 required 20.00". No, for sure, the 18 year old high schooler should be responsible for extracting that info from one counselor to the other. Foooor Suuuuure. Most annoying is the ommission of my Geometry class that I suddenly had to take, and thus took, for 1 semester in grade 12.

Which brings me to the reason I forgive my effed up, convoluted transcript- I rather think I did not take enough math to actually graduate*. I need 30 units, and the summary says I got 30 units... yeah, maybe.

Grade 09 Algebra 1 Mark A Credit 5.00
Grade 09 Geometry Mark A Credit 5.00
Grade 10 Algebra 2 Mark B Credit 5.00
Grade 10 Algebra 2 Mark A Credit 5.00
Laney College Grd 11 H Inter Algebra Lab Mark B Credit 5.00
Grade 12 H Precalculus HP Mark W Credit ---
Grade 12 Algebra 1 Mark A- Credit 5.00

Alright. So looking at that. There are 10 credits in an yearlong course, which each of those is. So I don't see how I can get any credit at all for accumulating more than 10 credits in anything. So. 5 and 5 credits in Algebra 1. 10. 5 and 5 credits in Algebra 2. 20. 5 credits in Geometry. 25. I am not a genius of math. Ohhh no. And I have not taken any math since 2007**. But 25<30. I am so sure. Now, if my magically dissappeared 5 credits of Geometry from senior year were there somewhere, that would make 30. But they are not there, they are magically dissappeared. I think I instead have got credit for that Laney College Grd 11 Inter Algebra Lab there. A semester worth of credit. Now, that can't count because Algebra 2 is Intermediate Algebra, and I already had what must be the maximum credit for that. Anyway, I believe I signed up for the class, took like one test, and then was told the units were not UC/CSU transferable and I was not allowed to take it under the district concurrent enrollment policy. So I stopped going. My Peralta transcript says I attempted 1 unit per semester from Fall 2005-Summer 2006, and that the only one I got credit for (1 credit, not 5) is Spring 2006. On my ACLC transcript this morphs from 1 credit to 5.

Did you Know? You can't just let teenagers do whatever they want. Even if what they want is to go to charter school and be in Venture Crew and learn Japanese and Biology at Community College and be kind to animals and the environment. Sometimes you have to be strict with children and make them follow an established path and be in harmony with the world, instead of just doing what they want and making it right after the fact. This transcript is terrible, but it is also sort of telling. Well. You can't tell from the transcript because it is flawed, but comparing it to my Peralta and Diablo Valley College transcripts and my absolute certainty that I took an academic elective at BASE that year, I attended a total of 6 schools in one academic year. That is stupid. That is so completely weird. I was so very bored with highschool by then, but still. I attended Laney College (for that Intermediate Algebra I got 0.00 units for, but it is still on my cc record.), Merritt College, College of Alameda, Diablo Valley College, the Bay Area School of Enterprise, and Alameda Community Learning Center. How completely absurd. No wonder the guidance counselor couldn't work it out. No one needs to go to 4 colleges in their 12th grade year.

Total Credits Required: 230 Total Credits completed: 354

Academic GPA 3.714

Class rank is 4 of 22

*Or enough PE. I am listed as taking Independent Study PE at ACLC in Grade 11 and getting a C in it. No, I did not go to ACLC in Grade 11. Everything is stupid.

** And it was Algebra 1, and I had already taken Algebra 2 at college and I still got an A-. And it was a freshman class, but nonetheless most of the class was in grade 7. Oh yes. And Nick, who is 5 years, 5, younger than me, and was in grade 7, was in the class with me. (Which I said was fine, since shit, I was only attending that class and Communications, aka once weekly announcements+icebreaker. Everything else was at college, at BASE, or independent study. So, I mean, if it made him happy, why not? At the time, I did not understand why the teacher was so concerned. I tried to explain that it is really okay if I don't have high status amongst the 7th graders. They already didn't like me that much because I was not in the pi recitation contest, for which the prize was a pie. I like pi, I told them, but not pie.) AND OUR TEACHER FOR IT CARLTON WAS TEACHER OF THE YEAR FINALIST AND MY OLD PRE ALGEBRA TEACHER FROM GRADE 7 MS. ELKIN WAS THE PRIOR TEACHER OF THE YEAR AND OMG SHE CAME TO CLASS WHILE I WAS THERE TO CONGRATULATE HIM OR SOMETHING AND SHE WAS LIKE "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU HAVE NEVER PASSED AN ALGEBRA CLASS?" All shocked, like that was unheard of. And I was like, um, everyoneassumedIwouldgettheneccessarycreditsfromprecalcbutIwasn'tpassingitandsothey
putmeheretoearnsomecredits. And then I died.

1 comment:

Robert van de Walle said...

You made your mom and I laugh so hard when we read this. AS IF we could ever "force" you to do anything you didn't want to!!!