I think it's kind of dumb for teachers to pick the classes for you to take next year. I mean, only YOU truly know your abilities and real strengths. Plus, the teachers don't know what you're completely capable of. It should be up to the student to decide what classes he/ she is going to take, amirite?

We have the final say in our classes here, but the teachers make recommendations.

Where are you from? In Texas we choose our classes.

I choose my own classes

Are you refering to teachers dictating your exact schedule and class choice for the year, or teachers deciding what level class you should take?

If they're a good teacher, they should be a pretty good judge of your true abilities. And they'll also know what kind of work you'll be required to do in the next class, so since they have the big picture, they're probably a better judge.

There's a kid in my English class who doesn't understand that he's getting a C because he is a horrible writer who can't write a single sentence without a mistake. He wants to be in Honors English next year. My teacher won't recommend him.

Also, my school has tests you have to take to go from a regulars to honors or honors to AP.

I'd hate to go to your school.

I chose my own

At my school, we choose our own classes, but if you want to be in an advanced class you need a recommendation. I think that's completely reasonable. One year, they tried to stop recommendations and a bunch of dumb kids chose AP classes and they slowed the whole class down.

At my school, we have recommendations, but students can change the levels of their classes if they please.

thats why they're called recommendations?

...going into IB?

Where I'm from, the teachers decide what level of classes we take for the next year. If we have an A for all four quarters of the class, then we get to move up to Honors. For AP classes, we only get accepted if we have a high enough SAT score and writing or comprehension score. A student CAN be successful in an AP class, but can have suck-ish SAT scores. Every test score doesn't directly reflect their intelligence. That's all I'm saying.