Dual credit is an opportunity for high school students to earn college credits while earning the high school credits required to graduate. It is a perfect opportunity to inspire responsibility while also getting a college education easer, and cheaper. Rather than taking all college required classes when you get there, dual credit provides the chance to make them early and save money and possibly even time spent.

Ms. Parham is a teacher at Arlington High School, and she teaches both dual credit and dual enrollment classes. She explains the with a dual enrollment class, you are enrolled both at the University of Memphis and Arlington; however, with dual credit, you are enrolled at Arlington but gaining a college credit that can transfer to any public college in Tennessee. She says that the classes aren’t necessarily harder, but that they are a lot different. In a regular class, there are a required amount of grades to be entered for the quarter. Ms. Parham tells us that dual credit plays by completely different rules. They have minimal grades a quarter, because they are mostly going by college grading guidelines. Their major tests and averaged homework scores are the basis of the grades for the entire year.

Dual credit classes aren’t for everyone, and most teachers will say it depends on the student. However, students that are responsible with a strong work ethic are likely to excel in classes the are designed to challenge their minds.