It’s time for students to begin thinking about registering for classes for the next school year. Inevitably, there is going to be a push to take more AP and early college classes, more GPA-lifting Honors classes, more career-prep STEM classes…more, more, more. What falls off the schedule when students take more of those? Electives: art, music, literature, theater, an extra year of a world language. The extra class that’s not career-oriented but will inspire new directions in a kid.
I took 7 AP classes my senior year, including a double-independent-study in AP Music Theory and AP Physics. I was glad for the intellectual rigor, and I am certain that I learned more about how to write in my AP English classes than I would have in the corresponding college lecture classes. Even so, I believe without a doubt that AP classes are not for most teenagers, and the fact that [number of tests taken per senior] is a big factor in the “school ranking” game says almost everything you need to know.
HIGH SCHOOL IS NOT CAREER PREP. It is a chance for maturing minds to learn, create, and discover what lights them up. Yes, students should challenge themselves. Yes, they should experience academic rigor and experience science, social studies, math, language, and more. But, when these goals are turned up to MAX and sixteen-year-olds can’t explore, try new things, fall down & get back up, and discover themselves, we are failing to offer the best that high school education can be.