When I left middle school and started my journey at Jackson-Reed, I was looking forward to several things but one of the most exciting prospects were electives. For the first time, I would have control over the classes I took, and as a firm believer in student agency, I was excited. However, I was met with a system that limited me much more than I expected, with much of this limitation stemming from required classes.
Apart from the four core classes, Jackson-Reed students have four periods each year for other required classes and electives. When I was first selecting my courses freshman year, this felt like more choices than I could have ever imagined, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way anymore. As freshmen, we are highly encouraged to sign up for an academy, take a language (despite any middle school credits we may have), and most emphatically, to get our required PE, art, and music credits out of the way. However, getting all of these credits done quickly while still pursuing other interests was a struggle for me.
Now, as our schedules for next year are being made, I still feel this pressure to finish the required courses. If I wanted to finish my required credits by next year, I would have had to drop one of my other elective courses that I’m actually interested in and plan to use in my future. Arriving here, I was hopeful that I could use electives to help explore my interests, but instead, we are told to prioritize required credits.
While the current system of required courses does work in many ways, it is still flawed. I’m not saying that these required classes should be removed altogether, as they do have value, but I do believe that they are currently taking more away from our educational experience than is necessary. One way we could start to fix this is to provide alternative pathways to earn the required credits. For example, giving student-athletes credit for sports participation is a great example. This would allow students to earn the required credits without sacrificing time in their schedule.
In the end, although required credits are important, I believe that more freedom in the classes we take would only benefit our students. High school is the time when we are supposed to figure out who we are and how we want to spend our lives. But if I have to miss out on discovering my passion to take a required PE class, then what’s the point?
