Next year, Jackson-Reed will eliminate the area studies classes such as Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, Asian Studies, African Studies, or the Model UN and Diplomacy class. In replacement of the area studies classes the Academy of Global Studies (AGS) will begin to offer additional courses.
This decision came after years of overcrowded core social studies classes, decreased elective enrollment, and the introduction of NAF classes for the AGS. The new classes will teach students about international and domestic political systems and history, with a new course-sequence focused on covering everything from the foundations of American democracy to international relations and foreign policy.
This year is the first year that the school offers AGS specific courses, a switch from the previous academy structure that gave students priority into certain classes but did not require work-based learning or internships to graduate.
Now, future and current underclassmen will take a new course structure that is being created by AGS social studies teachers and DCPS given guidelines based on the Career and Technical Education and the National Academy Foundation.
Principal Sah Brown said that at first DCPS releases a final course offering set and “after engaging teachers, department chairs, Assistant Principals, and CTE Directors around course offerings, I make a final decision.”
Social Studies department chair Matthew Burgoyne explained that department chairs were tasked with deciding what classes they would offer for the upcoming school year.
Core Social Studies classes are often overcrowded, with the average number of students being much higher than other departments, such as Math or English. ““My job is to give kids the best education; that is harder to do with larger class sizes.” ,” Burgoyne said.
By eliminating the area studies courses, the Social Studies department will have more class periods to teach courses that every student has to take.
While many see the value of academies in gaining real-world experience, they feel the area studies courses should not be sacrificed in the process.
Neha Malik, who taught Latin American and Middle Eastern studies this year, said that she’s “always against cutting the humanities, especially specialized humanities.”
When asked about the prioritization of work based learning, she said, “skills learning is important, but social studies also helps develop critical thinking and multicultural competency skills, which are becoming more valuable in an increasingly globalized world that’s dependent on AI.”
Malik argues the area studies allow students to learn about the world meaningfully and fill gaps that might otherwise be filled with disinformation.
Spanish and humanities teacher Isabel Vazquez-Gil echoes this sentiment saying, “when someone graduates from JR, they should not only know the relation the US has with other countries, but how the world sees the US.”
Vazquez-Gil also laments the lack of parent and student involvement in the decision, “I never like when a class is cut, and if that needs to happen, there should be an open conversation about it, that should include students and parents.”
Burgoyne had previously noted that if students and parents feel passionate about social studies education, they should advocate their desires to the school for more social studies teachers, as one is being cut this year.
According to Burgoyne, one social studies teacher is being cut and the department is gaining one teacher called a TLI, who works part of the day teaching and part of the day in an administration role as part of DCPS’s Teacher Leadership Innovation Program. They will
So, while the Social Studies Department is losing a teacher this year, it only translates to two lost class periods overall.
Social Studies teacher Robert Geremia, who teaches Model UN, AP US History, and AP Comparative Government, says he is “never in favor of subtracting classes,” said he’s sad to see Model UN go because it helped students “learn how the UN organs tackle conflicts and contextualize the geopolitics of today.”
For students outside AGS however, some worry that an understanding of our globalized world is lost.
Malik hopes that area studies topics will be incorporated in the World History II curriculum, but the curriculum already received a requirement of an additional fifteen civilizations to cover by the district this year. According to Malik, “You can’t touch everything in World II, and the difference between the level of depth in Areas Studies and breadth in World History courses is significant.”
Students have also shown their qualms with cutting area studies. Junior Zoe Lewis said that after taking Latin American studies she “understood the genocides and takeovers in South America, and could just appreciate our place in the world in general.”
Lewis believes that in a diverse school like JR, it’s important to educate students on what it means to live in a global community.
Overall, the elimination of area studies classes means less elective options for students, but smaller class sizes for core social studies classes and new academy classes. •
