I went to a biology magnet for high school and got to take many science electives, including an "ecology" course, which flopped because one of the teachers who was supposed to co-teach it couldn't and we got stuck with the worst science teacher at the school. (Actually, the worst at that school was better than many at the regular school, but I disliked her.)
I got to take two classes on vertebrates, Invertebrate Zoology, Genetics (with an evolutionary and behavioral emphasis), regular and AP Environmental Science, Physical Oceanography and several other science electives, in addition to regular biology and chemistry. For a kid who loved biology, this was probably the best school anywhere. (I ended up reading _The Evolution of Cooperation_ in tenth grade and _Consilience_ in the eleventh.) Most of these courses covered college-level material at a somewhat slower pace (and in a more interactive way) than a college class would, so 90% of my freshman biology at UCLA was review. A good ecology class would have been great. (I was trying to build a 3-D food web model as a junior.) So, I guess the point of all this is that there's nothing sacred about "college level" -- a good teacher will pick and choose what to present. The more options kids have in high school science, the better. -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia co-founder, <http://www.worldbeyondborders.org>World Beyond Borders Check out my blog, <http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com>Perceiving Wholes "In the long run, education intended to produce a molecular geneticist, a systems ecologist, or an immunologist is inferior, both for the individual and for society, than that intended to produce a broadly educated person who has also written a dissertation." --John Janovy, Jr., "On Becoming a Biologist"
