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Here's my take on what's going on.
When I was in HS (private, Catholic), I was on the honors track. The honors kids were required to take a language for 2 years, PLUS Latin for 2 years. We also took one semester of a class called "Study Skills".
Everything I ever needed to know about note taking, reading comprehension, daily studying for material, studying for test taking, and paper preparation/writing, I learned in this class. We also learned about time management, balancing activities (which were required of honors students), etc.
The amount and depth of academic work I did in HS prepared me for the level of personal time and effort of work expected of me in my college courses. What did not help me, however, was the complete lack of non-academic electives (with the exeption of "choose one" - Art (painting or drawing), Choir, or Typing).
An example of our electives (only in Junior or Senior year):
European Lit, Physics, Analysis, Advanced Calc, 3rd & 4th year language, AP classes.
The honors classes also provided opportunity/required thinking out of the box. We had different types of projects we worked on, as opposed to just papers or tests. We had also academic field trips, which included Shakespearean plays, trips to the Museum, etc., after which a project/test based on the content of the trip was usually required.
Lastly, the school REQUIRED parental participation, at 2 parent-teacher conferences, at least one fundraiser per year, signing off on any paper/test below a 70, or any detention.
Why were only the honors kids taking Study Skills class? Why didn't they have the opportunity to take advanced academic classes, work on creative projects, or see Literature come alive or stand face-to-face with a Degas or Monet?
In my book, my school did a great disservice to those other students, espcially because our school was a (college) prep school, where 97% of all graduating classes went straight to a 4-year college?
In most public schools, kids don't have any of those opportunites (and if so, they are rare).
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