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Show Your Schools J and You by Bob Hunsaker I Executive Director Utah County Educators I work on setting up summer training J sessions is underway. j Another difficulty is 1 the change in attitudes J that will be necessary. I In this age of per- 1 missiveness, many kids are accustomed to taking the easiest course. The new requirements demand more effort. Given the shortage of teachers, it may be found that 1987 is too early to set this plan in motion. However, this is an J appraoch that demands I excellence, and there's nnthinu urnno with that Utah students are going to be required to take tougher courses in high school. That is, the ones headed for college are. The reason for the stiffer requirements is a new set of standards set by the University of Utah. Beginning in 1987, any student admitted to the U of U must have satisfactorily two years of mathematics beyond elementary algebra to be taken during grades 10-12; two years of biological andor physical science - with laboratory experience in one; a year of American history and government; two years of a foreign language -plus additional requirements. It's important to know that these requirements do not impose a grade point average higher than 2.0 or "c" average. Nor do the requirements call for a minimum ACT (college entrance) test. The emphasis is on preparation, rather than test scores. What happens when the largest state-operated state-operated university sets standards such as this? It means that high schools will set requirements in line with the university's. It means students will have to determine if they are college-bound, and do it at an early date. It means some problems for the students, the high schools and the colleges. One problem is that the requirements for more classes in the above mentioned subjects mean that many teachers will have to be trained in these areas. Math and science teachers are in short supply already. However, preliminary |