By Kathryn Cross
Staff Writer
In an effort to meet Mira Costa’s art credit requirements, many students must take a class that they have little interest in; therefore, Costa should endeavor to accredit more of the existing electives to help students meet the current art requirement or abolish it altogether.
Art credits are currently required at Costa because of the California state standard for artistic perception and expression. As a result, classes such as dance, video production and robotics all provide students with art credits, but other Costa electives, such as computer science and Yearbook, which incorporate artistic thinking, are unjustifiably unaccredited.
Model United Nations and Yearbook participants are constantly involved in the art of writing, speaking and critical thinking, all of which qualify as creative expression.
For example, Yearbook members are engaged in photography and web design, yet these activities do not constitute an art credit. According to Principal Ben Dale, the administration has already submitted accreditation forms for this year but have not yet received notice if they were accepted. In order to limit the number of students taking courses that are not challenging or interesting to them, Costa should seek UC accreditation for more of its electives.
Because of the current art requirement, many students have resorted to taking summer school classes as a means of fitting this credit into their already full schedules. Students should not have to spend their summer taking classes that are unnecessary for many colleges and don’t satisfy the student’s interest.
In order to help more electives count as an art credit, Costa should look into making more of the current artistic electives, such as Yearbook, into accredited art classes. Although the current system is tedious, Costa should look into this option to ensure this is not detrimental to students.
This system is further belabored by the school board’s requirement to demonstrate student interest in the proposed art course. This is an unnecessary part of the approval process because classes that are already established are already overflowing with students, and by accrediting existing electives this would not be an issue. Rather than creating new art courses, allowing more electives to be accredited would allow students to explore their interests and meet the requirement.
Removing the art requirement for graduation at Costa completely would also be another means of addressing this pressing student issue. Many students already have multiple academic classes and electives with large workloads and do not need the added stress of a required art class. Universities, and especially UC schools, should recognize alternative elective activities for art credit.
Considering that not all students are apply to the UC system, Costa should not base its requirements off of UC standards. This would be a beneficial measure to encourage student participation in other areas of study and reduce the workloads of heavily impacted students.
Students who are too occupied with rigorous courses or other activities should not have to struggle through the unnecessary and time- consuming nature of the art requirement. By accrediting more electives, the art department would not be as dramatically impacted, and the students who do not have time to engage in artistic courses would be free to pursue their true academic interests without the burden of the art requirement.
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