Woodbridge High students have a strict curriculum that may not allow much space for personal interests and opportunity to explore different options for careers. Required credits such as art, foreign language, specific math classes and physical education (PE) take up important time that could be better spent on classes that benefit their future college majors. This takes away student choice and slows down the process of finding their actual interests. Instead of preparing students for life after graduating, it forces them into a one-size-fits-all box that is just not suitable for everyone.
To help students, high schools should provide flexible and customizable class options whilst also decreasing the amount of mandatory credits needed to graduate. This will give students more freedom to dive into subjects that pique their curiosity. Students having more options and customizable class options would help them learn more about their passions.
General Education classes are intended to provide a base for students so that they can pursue a career of their choice. However, many students share a different perspective, senior Amritha Boddhu has a passion for art. Although she has had the opportunity to take a few classes in that realm over the course of her high school journey, she was unable to further explore that passion due to the requirement of general education courses.
“I think we should have some choice in what we want as a requirement,” Boddhu said. “Some people might be covering core classes [that aren’t necessary for what they want to major in]. PE classes, are unnecessary for [upperclassman]…I had to take PE as a core class in my junior year, and because of that, I couldn’t take the class I wanted.”
Even though general education classes intend to provide a baseline for students in order to succeed later in life, they should not take priority over classes or topics that students are passionate in exploring. Instead, general education classes should be there to help guide each student and allow students to explore their various passions.
A lot of students, when coming into high school, have an idea of what they want to do in their future, generally these interests usually take a lot of time after school. Students spend much of their time worrying about their math or science grades, when in reality students won’t use a lot of the subjects going into their careers. Those going into careers in art, won’t utilize subjects like history in their college major. It is unfair to have students fill their time with something that won’t be useful in their future.
“People who want to take photography or who want to be artists. I don’t think they should be required to take those [core] classes,” sophomore Mai Takeno said.
The argument that students should be able to fully customize classes and skip out on certain classes like art and world language to encourage their interest is hurting the value of having well-rounded students. How will students know what they want to do if they are never pushed to try certain classes? If classes like art became optional, a student might skip it altogether because they just assume they don’t have the skill.
Woodbridge High art teacher Jillian Rogers, describes this in detail. “You can be very successful in any of my arts classes and not have a lot of skill,” Rogers said.
Cutting this requirement would stop a lot of students from discovering a passion they didn’t know they had because they have never tried. “The benefits that a student will get in an art class are things that are going to flex the brain in ways that math and language don’t,” Rogers said.
These classes are supposed to be different from standardized classes, cutting the academic side of school and letting our brains f low creatively. Cutting the requirement of these credits could lead to the loss of funding, which could eliminate these programs entirely. College is the time to explore what you want to do, while high school just introduces students to different things before they have to fully commit.
However, mandatory credit also punishes students who know they strive to pursue more artistic paths. Our school could implement after-school programs that specialize in certain jobs. We can also push students to take more Irvine Valley College courses to help explore their passions. Customizable classes allow students to try a variety of subjects that they could possibly find interesting. Customizable classes would be more rewarding for the students who want to invest in their future.
The required credit courses are put in place to create well rounded students, this can make students feel restricted from taking courses that would allow them to dive deeper into their passions. Balance is important when considering the classes that should be taken in high school. The core classes teach students general information that is needed to be taught but there should also be space and flexibility in their schedules to take classes they feel more driven towards.
Reducing the number of mandatory credits needed to graduate will make students more intrigued to take the classes they are interested in for their academics and careers.
