OPINION: NOT REQUIRED, BUT NECESSARY: A CASE FOR ELECTIVES
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orth Royalton High School offers some great electives. Science & Sustainability helps students understand the challenges the planet faces and encourages them to come up with solutions. Trojans, Romans, and Myths provides a window into mythology and prompts important questions about the world. Personal Finance prepares teens for the uncertainties of adult life. These classes, and many more, allow NRHS students to explore unique fields and points of view, gain a better understanding of the world, and learn what they want to do after school. Unfortunately, there is far too little attention placed on electives. With a limited number of students and teachers, it makes sense that there are only a certain number of electives that can be viable classes. However, Ohio’s educational decisions have not helped the matter. Increased support for charter schools has led to a drop in NRHS enrollment in the past few years, and while the decline isn’t major, it has played a big impact on electives. Several classes that were previously offered have been canceled this current school year, and there are expected to be major cuts for the 2022 school year. With some elective classes only having five or six students, even three or four students that don’t enroll in NRHS can make a large impact on whether those classes exist. Ultimately, these kinds of choices are inevitable, but the Ohio Department of Education should not be making it harder. Funding should be directed at making public schools better and providing students with a wide array of classes. Given that charter schools make money through private means, while public schools are only funded by the government, the Department of Education should shift its focus
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to making the public school experience as great as possible, and that includes support for electives. Of course, all the money in the world can be thrown at making more electives possible, but it will not matter unless students sign up for the classes. NRHS history teacher Mr. Kish thinks students too often ignore classes that aren’t required to graduate. “I think students should take another look at electives,” he said. While he understands the difficulties in investing in classes that have little interest, Kish believes that a shift in views can help garner more enthusiasm for electives. “[Those classes] are a major part of an enriching high school experience. They help students become well rounded, beyond knowing general knowledge,” he continued. From my own experience, taking Creative Writing has encouraged me to write fiction, both in and out of the classroom. It is a passion that in large part stems from the encouragement and engagement I received from that class. For every elective, there are stories like this, and discovering new passions is something that should be fostered, not prevented. Electives are great classes that help prepare students for the adult world, open their minds to new ideas and points of view, engage in debate and problem solving, and maybe even discover a subject they want to study that they never knew about. Electives are everything fun, enjoyable, and useful about school, and should be encouraged, rather than tossed aside as “other classes.” Between government support, and student enthusiasm, it is clear that electives should be given a chance. THE ROYA L NEWS
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