Ahead of the class: MBX Flex allows students to take summer school on their own time. But does it give an unfair edge to those that can afford it?
Students walk up the ramp to Mira Costa off Meadows Avenue. This summer will mark the debut of MBX Flex, a summer program in which students can take courses with one-to-one instruction on a customized schedule. The cost? Up to $4500. Photo (CivicCouch.com) In January, teachers in the Mira Costa High School Department of Social Sciences voted to change what it meant to be an “A” student. Although teaching practices would not change, starting with the winter semester of this school year, a cumulative average as low as a 78 would earn an A. The move, department faculty said, was a response to the growing number of Mira Costa students taking social science classes during the summer in a district-affiliated program and, increasingly, those offered by for-profit schools. Widespread dodging of school-year history and other social studies classes threatened the “citizenship and critical thinking” that these courses instill, according to a statement from the social sciences faculty. The argument rested on the assumption that courses taken over the summer were perceived to be easier than those offered during the school year. Changing the grading scale, social studies teachers wrote, would…
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