By Rachel Bracker
Editor-in-Chief
For the first time in recent years, both editors-in-chief are taking advanced science classes. My predecessors generally were “English people,” a description which makes me expect tea, croquet and sweet accents.
In a way this makes sense—there are a lot of students at Mira Costa who elect to avoid one subject to pursue another. Musically-inclined Mustangs squeeze multiple electives into their schedule at the expense of math, science or a summer free of history class.
Many seniors have been known to neglect a class they don’t need to graduate (elective, sport, math or science) for the sake of sleeping in. Then again, some sacrifice the time between 7 and 8 a.m. to take two science or math classes.
Our school has allowed flexibility in scheduling so that students who know what they want (or don’t want) can tailor their classes to their interests.
We have added senior English seminars, so that students can explore subjects in greater depth, and have allowed the arts to flourish so that students can explore their creative selves and earn credit for doing so.
For a time, it seemed that this would not be possible. This is because budget cuts constrained flexibility, and inefficiency became fiscally intolerable. Costa’s administration, until today, said that students could not take more than two classes of the same subject.
Even so, if future budget constraints necessitate this policy, our school must be careful.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study tests the math and science abilities of fourth and eighth graders around the word, and the United States has barely risen in the rankings since TIMSS began in 1995. Even with these potentially promising numbers, following through on students’ education is critical to making them great engineers and scientists in the future.
Taking away flexibility in scheduling could compromise the education of students with a passion for math and science.
In order to ensure that Mira Costa remains effective in educating the left-brained if they reduce scheduling flexibility, the administration should consider formalizing competitive math and science clubs.
Yet, making students take a variety of classes wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Each discipline promotes a different method of thought, whether it be analysis of language, connecting cause and effect in history, identifying patterns in mathematics or using the scientific method to reach conclusions.
Application of knowledge improves with a greater breadth of subject matter, as it is easier to innovate and apply when there are multiple connections between ideas. Even if one doesn’t like a subject, the knowledge gained is still valuable.
Ultimately, our high school education should build a foundation for us to learn during the rest of our lives. Taking a variety of subjects ensures that we can competently pursue whatever field we desire after graduation. That’s when we become the kind of people we want to be.
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