Imagine walking into a restaurant, staring down at the menu, and pondering which of the dishes you’d like to order. There’s a catch, though. Some of the options have never been tasted by anyone before. You ask the waiter for the ingredients, but they can’t tell you, because they don’t know. And, to add to the importance of your order, you will be eating it for every meal, all of next year.
This is what we’ve gone through. We researched classes, did course selection guides, and talked to anyone who’d listen. Still, the choices we’re making for our sophomore year are unclear. We are frustrated, and trying to seek out answers that aren’t available.
In the days leading up to the course registration due date, Jan. 12, it seemed like every conversation started with, or led to, one thing: course registration. How many weighted classes are you signing up for? I don’t know what to do. Our grade is facing something that no freshman has ever dealt with before: the choice to take multiple weighted courses, both core and elective, and the choice not to take Health or Computer science, because they’re no longer graduation requirements.
Freshmen need help. Nobody prepared us to think about more weighted options for our sophomore year, let alone choosing before the first semester ended. We need more information before our schedules become final. We need the opportunity to reconsider our choices once these new courses are clarified.
For those who think they can just switch classes early next year, heed our warning that this isn’t always an option and you may be stuck in your schedule, which has happened in the past. Since we do not know how rigorous these classes will be, many of our classmates will stick with their decisions and risk overworking themselves. This is the result of an unprepared course registration process.
Some freshmen are planning to go from zero weighted classes to five or more, with no idea what the new courses will be like, and the information keeps changing. When Honors English was first approved by the board on Oct. 8, we were told that students who decided to take Honors would be in the same class as regular English. Some students assumed that the Honors class would simply be more homework, instead of deepening understanding.
After two months of confusion, Principal David Yoshihara clarified that the two classes would be separate, leaving students with only a month before schedules were due.
We don’t know what could happen between now and next year in regards to Honors English. Between the unexpected early course registration and new classes, the English department’s ability to provide information about Honors English has been impeded on, English Department Chair Mercedes Foster said. This led to uninformed choices by freshmen. Course registration should not be open until the second semester so that teachers have time to think through the new courses.
While earlier selection does allow for a head-start on creating the master schedule, it’s not worth the cramming of choices that will affect students in the upcoming school year. Instead, it may bring the opposite effect of students wanting to change their schedules because of too much workload or rigor.
Many of us are facing pressure from parents and teachers at opposite ends of the spectrum. Some teachers are warning their students against taking weighted courses so much that it’s scaring and swaying students, while some parents are encouraging their children to take weighted classes.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen and how this is going to impact people. I’m really concerned [for freshmen],” Foster said. “Some of you are going to handle it just fine. But some of you are going to struggle a lot.”
Looking forward, we’re scared. Terrified, even. Both of us have hesitantly signed up for weighted classes next year. Just like sitting in a restaurant not knowing anything about the meal we just ordered or the amount of food that will be put in front of us, we don’t know if we will be happy with our choices or sick to our stomachs. Knowing each year is just going to ramp up, we don’t want to be stressed, exhausted, or faced with homework that takes over our life. We just want to be happy, and with these new courses, we don’t know if we will be.
Will our classmates be able to do more advanced courses than any underclassmen at PHS have before? The class of 2029 are the guinea pigs, so no one knows. Instead of throwing us to the winds, please allow us to revisit our schedules, with more school support, before the master schedule is completed, so that we can make sure we have made the best choices.
