Side-effects of Significant Science Selection

(photo by A. Rushing)

(photo by A. Rushing)

When looking at all of the classes the high school has to offer, one thing stands out: the ratio of science classes to other core classes. Whether the student has a passion for outer space, life, the Earth, or engineering, the high school has a class for them. The selection isn’t the same for students in English and math. 

“I live in the STEM world … for the size of the school that we are, we have an incredible diversity in course selection,” Melissa Reinhart, science teacher, said. 

English only has 13 classes and math has 11 classes compared to the 22 science classes. 

“I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of offerings until you get to junior year,” Jamie Ballard, math teacher, said.

Putting science courses aside, the problem lies with the little selection students have for other core subjects. Since there are so few math classes, students pick the math class they want to take and are stuck with that choice. 

“In math the issue is we’ve got to build on it. So if you pick a certain pathway in math we are building on that, but If you want to ala carte, so to speak, biology and chemistry, integrated science, Earth space science, astrology you can … once you start a pathway in math you have to stay in that pathway,” Ballard said. 

Thomas Sherron, English teacher, believes that since the English department has only recently moved toward expanding, they will eventually have different classes. With the school population increasing, Sherron thinks that the number of English classes will increase in time. 

“As our school population increases, it’s important that we continue to revise the classes that we offer and consider adding different varieties from time to time … We need to make sure that we are being aware of the students’ needs and possible classes to add that they would be interested in,” Sherron said. 

Students benefit and suffer from the class ratios. While they feel appreciative of how many science classes there are, they are also longing for more choices in other subjects. 

“There could be more options [in math and English], but I feel like it would be hard to choose,” Annkia Wilson, 10, said.