The MUS Lower School Blog

To AP or not AP, that is the question

Today's New York Times offers a compelling discussion over the rise in parent requests for their children to enroll in as many Advanced Placement courses as possible in order to enhance their high school transcripts. "Earning college credit, standing out from the crowd, gaining skills, broadening intellectual horizons... " are qualities pimped by the College Board for AP course takers. MUS is one of the schools where the pressure from parents for their boys to enroll in these classes is high, and for good reason. 90% score a 3 or above, and 3 is generally accepted by colleges for credit, but clearly not in all cases.

In 2007, MUS senior AP results: 31% scored 5, 34% 4, 24% 3. 11% scored under a 3. No college gives credit for anything lower than a three, and MUS will move a student out at semester if AP requirements look to be inconsistent with student performance. As students apply for AP, MUS generally has them enrolled already in the appropriate academic pipeline so that there are few surprises. Again, look at the 2007 stats. Overwhelmingly, the system works out. That said, MUS verifies the rationality of each student's AP course selection and invites students either to challenge themselves or counsels out students where necessary. It's a balancing act.

Taking the College Board's language at face value, I think that MUS fulfills both to the letter and to the spirit of AP in our curriculum. AP enhances our curriculum, and obviously it is the only way for students to receive advanced college credit. However, our teachers and their courses stimulate the intellectual and social maturity of our boys without AP. Bottom line(s): These things generally take care of themselves. Our faculty encourages our boys to enroll according to demonstrated appropriate abilities. Parents should "lean in" on their boy where they see a need for higher standards. Don't push where unnecessary. Do a little bit every day towards the big goal and the big goal usually works out. There are a lot of college match options, so maintain an open mind. And, enjoy learning. That's an easy one to forget.

For those about to study, we salute you.

Angus understands. *So do 79% of Blog poll respondents (see poll to your left). These boys have invested a lot this year, and we want all of them to finish well. One way to execute a positive impact on final semester exams (25% of the semester grade) is to break down a deliberate approach so that all of the accumulated data aligns in a reasonable sequence, setting the stage for more efficient recall. Thus, we provide a strategery:

Download 7th grade exam calendar - Spring

Download 8th Grade Exam Schedule 2009

PLEASE NOTE* The printed school calendar which many of us use is incorrect as for exams. These provided here on PDF are correct.

It's never too early to begin review, and with exams set to begin May 15 for eighth-graders (seventh-graders have a holiday that day due to no exam that day), now is a good time to enter Exam Mode. What I like about exams in the Lower School is that they provide a real-life scenerio for the rest of our boys' academic careers. They have four or five more years to go here, four of college, at least two of grad school... so for about the next ten or more years, exams are going to be a semi-annual way of life. Unless, of course, your boy decides to follow in Angus' steps (not that there's anything wrong with it!)

Eighth-grade triumphs in Beck Cup

If it's late April, then you know it's time for the annual Lower School soccer duel between the two Baby Owls squadrons, a.k.a, The Beck Cup (pictured above with its namesake as transformed thanks to Will Kalen's underwear swatch and a ball trinket affixed to the toe of a previous 3rd place cross-county trophy from 1998). The eighth-grade exited Webb Field with a 4-nil victory over the seventh-grade. As a result, the elder boys hold the Beck Cup until next year's challenge.

Youth In Government news

From field reporter Eddie Batey: The YMCA’s Middle School Youth In Government (YIG) conference was held Friday at City Hall. Participating schools this year included ECS, Mt. Pisgath, MHA, St. George's, Westminster, St. Mary's and MUS.
Of 56 bills submitted by 110 delegates, only 10 bills “made it out of committee” to reach the General Assembly (GA) for consideration.

Eli Ostrow argued the merits of his proposed bill (Senate Bill 09-5-5) entitled “An Act to Institute a Payroll Tax and Lower the Sales Tax”. His bill passed with a comfortable majority of his peers’ votes. Of the 10 bills considered in GA, Eli sponsored one of only 4 that was passed in to law!

Cole Ettingoff and Thornton Brooksbank received “Outstanding Bill” recognition as judged by the adult advisors. Their bill (SB/09-2-2) “An Act to Revise the State Tax on Inheritance” was one of only two bills so recognized.

Ian Turner provided exceptional leadership before the conference as an advisor and during the conference as a presiding officer. Thank you, Ian.

Lower School participants (15) were:

Bolton, Logan

Boshwit, Jeremy

Boyd, Hal

Brooksbank, Thornton

Crosby, Andrew

Ettingoff, Cole

Jampana Raju, Srujan

Lamb, William

Lynn, Grayson

Mayzell, Ryan

Ostrow, Eli

Oxendine, John

Shah, Aditya

Shah, Amit

Weaver, Mack

Eighth-grade elects Honor Council reps for next year

Congratulations to Hurston Reed and James Belina for being elected this morning to serve as the 2009-2010 Freshman class representatives to the Honor Council. As always, these are very close elections among deserving young men, and it is a great honor for all boys nominated to be held in such high esteem by their peers.

It's a different day for the vaunted MUS Honor System when our boys regularly travel about with hundreds of dollars of relatively compact electronic equipment, not to mention excess cash in their wallets. It puzzles me as to why a middle school boy needs an iPhone, video game players, and more cash in his wallet than lunch requires. Not only are these items distractions here, but also they are unnecessary for school, and they provide significant temptation for use by the owner as well as make for something someone can steal. Obviously, I cannot police every action done in secret, and I urge our boys to be sensible as they guard themselves against exposure to theft by having in their lockers only that which is necessary for school.

Just because we have an Honor Code does not mean that some of our boys will not lie, cheat, and/or steal. Overwhelmingly, we think that we enroll the right kind of person who respects our precious freedoms as well as their neighbor's property. However, from time to time, someone chooses to break the Honor Code. When we know about it, when these newly-elected boys and their peers work within the system, we act appropriately in response. Some boys receive instruction, experience the consequences, and change their ways as a result. Some boys do not. They are expelled. 

As for the explosion of cell phone usage by students, parents are to be reminded that the office is available during school hours every school day to receive and deliver messages for our boys. If their request to call you is reasonable, we allow them to use the phone. If your family chooses to send your son to school with a cell phone, that device can easily be secured in a place in their bag which deters a potential nere-do-weller, rare as it is. Believe it of not, sometimes these guys just mess with one another, going into each others' lockers and temporarily removing various contents just to cause irritation. I know, I know, "not my precious boy." Well, sometimes their actions are not mean-spirited, but the horseplay communicates differently. Sometimes someone temporarily misplaces a book, and a classmate either allows their friend to borrow a text (not permitted, by the way) or a classmate takes the law into his own hands and borrows a text without their friend's knowledge by going into a locker that is not their own (also not permitted).

Needless to say, the Honor Council has a difficult job in the 21st century, and they historically function with the highest level of integrity. The student body as a whole respects the Honor Code to a very high degree. We have to admit, though, that access to the new technology we all enjoy provides new temptations. Let's continue to encourage all of our boys to work daily, hour by hour, in order to create an honorable environment so that we can both preserve and provide the best school culture in our region. One way to do that is to leave expensive toys at home.

One week notice; not cool to miss school

All Lower School students will take achievement tests during the first two hours of school on the mornings of Monday, April 27, Wednesday, April 29, and Thursday, April 30. Please do not schedule any appointments during this time. Make-up tests are difficult to complete given the length of the tests. Students do not need to prepare for these tests. They should come to school on time, well-nourished and rested. Questions, please e-mail Catherine Schuhmacher at catherine@musowls.org or Ethan Langston at ethan.langston@musowls.org.

Seventh-grade elects 2009-2010 Honor Council reps

Congratulations to president-elect Gary Wunderlich and Tejvir Vaghela on their election this morning to serve as next year's Lower School Honor Council representatives for the eighth-grade. The tedious process aims to find a clear mathematical majority winner. The boys all had to withstand numerous voting exercises as we repeated attempted to elect our ultimate results. The exercise is a healthy reminder of the power of the vote as numerous scenarios resulted in “too close to call” results, thereby forcing us to re-vote and re-vote.

 

The boys executed a very well-mannered election atmosphere.  

Baseball game is on

Today's game versus St. George's is on tonight, 7:00 p.m. at Gameday Baseball. Please check the baseball blog regularly for time, location, and date information.

LAX canceled

Tonight's lacrosse games versus the Saints have been canceled due to wet fields.

Night of the Arts info

Night of the Arts is Friday, April 17^th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Dining Hall.

All seventh-grade students who made a mosaic head with Mr. Buchman this past fall (1^st semester 2008-2009 academic year) are required to bring their project to the Halperin-Gillespie Room in the entrance hall of the Campus Center Wednesday the 15th, Thursday the 16^th or Friday 17^th.  Participation is required.