DYS:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art27056.aspWhy are you opposed to spreading the wealth?
Are the four "Dallas/Fort Worth-area" schools "with just 2% of the graduating Seniors producing 50% of the National Merit Scholars" free public schools? The NAPS schools I propose are free public schools that generate at least two full years of college credit to its graduates.
NAPS would be nationwide in all 50 states at 150 sites with a standard shared curriculum, and a significant number of the classes would be taught by Ph.D. university professors in a university setting in which most of the classmates would be university students. There are many dumb university students, but dumb university students do not take full-year Calculus, full-year Organic Chemistry and Laboratory, and full-year Calculus-based Physics, or any courses above those levels. Those are the university classes that NAPS students would enroll in.
Yes, Calculus is taught in hundreds of high schools nationwide, but Organic Chemistry and Laboratory is taught in no public high schools in the U.S. that I am aware of. Part of my impetus for designing NAPS has to do with AP Chemistry. Universities do not recognize the laboratory work done in U.S. high schools during AP Chemistry to be sufficient preparation for Organic Chemistry. Even if a student scores a "5" on the national AP Chemistry test, which is the highest score possible, that student must take a full year of General Chemistry Lab at a university before he/she can enroll in Organic Chemistry. As a parent, I learned that lesson the hard way twice � and there is no getting around it in the current system. And so I created NAPS, which solves the problem.
Consider the following excerpt from my proposal:
http://nasa-academy-of-the-physical...11/first-model-university-of-oregon.htmlThe UO awards 12 credits and recognizes the equivalency of General Chemistry (CH 221, 222, 223) for all high school students who score a �4� or a �5� on the national AP Chemistry test. But the UO does not recognize the high school chemistry laboratory experience as being sufficient preparation for Organic Chemistry I (CH 331), and consequently requires all students who want to advance in chemistry to minimally take three terms of General Chemistry Laboratory (CH 227, 228, 229) before beginning the Organic Chemistry sequence. Therefore, the UO will provide university-level chemistry laboratory instruction to all NAPS sophomores in conjunction with their AP Chemistry class to qualify NAPS juniors to enroll in Organic Chemistry if they so choose.
As juniors, NAPS students will separate into three groups according to their interests. Those who are especially advanced in math will take the Foundations of Physics I sequence and the Calculus sequence throughout the school year [total UO credits per term: 8, 8, 8]. A second group will take Organic Chemistry I, II, III (CH 331, 335, 336); Organic Chemistry Laboratory (337, 338); and Organic Analysis (CH 339) [total UO credits per term: 7, 7, 8]. A third group will take Computer Science I, II, III and Elements of Discrete Mathematics I, II, III (MATH 231, 232, 233) [total UO credits per term: 8, 8, 8].
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Why do you imagine that my "proposal is not going to attract the PG/MG as DYS does and offers what local private, magnet and level III schools already do"? I did not involve either one of my daughters in the Davidson Young Scholars program, and I did investigate it when I was searching for solutions for my oldest daughter when she was young. DYS is not a be-all end-all solution for everyone, nor will NAPS be that. Many students who could qualify for enrollment in NAPS would choose to instead attend their local high school for all sorts of good personal reasons, and I understand that fully, and it does not bother me in the least. I have designed NAPS only for those students who would want to attend it, and for no others.
In Eugene-Springfield, Oregon, where the University of Oregon is located, there are seven public high schools within three different school districts. The public high school that has the long-time reputation for being the best academic high school in the city has not offered AP Chemistry for several years now. As funding for public education gets axed time and time again in Oregon, what is disappearing are the AP classes.
The NASA angle is a clever way to avoid public hostilities toward smart kids. Please read the following linked section of my proposal for a detailed explanation:
http://nasa-academy-of-the-physical...9/11/making-it-happen-nasa-and-naps.htmlSteven A. Sylwester
