STAFF EDITORIAL: HONORS CLASSES ONLY HONOR SOME Park should encourage honors classes

Ashley Reyes

Recently Park has been struggling with teacher shortages, which can affect students’ learning and their missing out on important engagement, especially with the end of semester one coming up.

When my English teacher left, it was really difficult for me and other students to cooperate and be able to do assignments with no curriculum being left behind for students. This has caused students to struggle jumping back into the feeling of having a new teacher.

Ever since the new teacher was introduced to the class, it was hard for the continuation of the classwork to begin. It was difficult having to start over with building a connection with the teacher, especially since some people had a stronger connection with the previous teacher. Not only did students have to readjust their way of learning, but they also had to get used to how assignments were structured.

Honors classes give students opportunities in high school, postsecondary education and beyond. These classes allow students to push themselves more on an academic level to meet a goal. They give students a glimpse of the academic rigor they may experience in college. That being said, honors classes can be overbearing and not all students are interested, or have time to take the courses.

While honors classes are beneficial, they should not be required. The Echo Editorial Board believes that students should continue to be given the choice of deciding the classes they take. The classes one takes has an immense impact on a student’s life. Park should continue to offer honors classes to those who want the challenge.

The Echo Editorial Board believes that honors classes lack diversity in students, although it is not because the classes are inaccessible. The presentability and long lasting stereotypes regarding advanced courses often leads students to believing they are not smart enough to take them. That being said, students are also made to feel bad about not taking honors classes and it is perceived as weak or lacking. Staff at Park have potential to better this issue by doing a more adequate job of student encouragement. Motivating all students rather than selective groups of them to reach further academically is one way to diversify the students taking advanced courses such as honors classes.

Students often shy away from taking honors classes because there is not equal opportunity offered. The content that honors classes cover

is often outdated and focused on primarily Euro-centric themes. Honors classes struggle to create a space where all students can learn about themselves. Advanced classes are also visibly white, and Park is struggling to adapt content relevance to motivate students to take the courses.

Choosing to take an honors class is not always a choice students make in their best interest. In some cases, students are not mentally ready to take honors classes, but make the decision to do so to show colleges that they can take on the challenge. Other students take advanced courses because it gives them a glimpse of a college workload. Choosing to take an honors class is heavily impacted by the desire to earn college credit and college perception.

The time consuming workloads that honors classes require have strong effects on the lives of students. Homework is a necessary element of classes, but does not help all students learn. The Echo Editorial Board believes that those who struggle to meet deadlines are more likely to struggle with an intense schedule filled with advanced classes. Vigorous schedules often lead to students having to choose academic priorities due to lack of time in a day to focus on homework, self care, family and attain a social life.

Honors classes are exceptional opportunities that should be taken into consideration for all students who have time to attempt the challenges advanced courses require. The Echo Editorial Board unanimously believes that the administration should improve on the ways they encourage students to take honors classes.

Meanwhile, as the new English teacher was getting settled in, he tried figuring out how much the class had learned and what we’ve been over with my old teacher. As days passed, it slowly started to feel like I wasn’t actually learning or even progressing in the class. Although the teacher created lessons for us to do, the classroom was very unresponsive to his efforts, which caused me to feel unmotivated in the class — it felt disorganized.

During that period, he also made attempts at resetting the class many times by allowing us to choose and change units and assignments. But in the end, this just resulted in things being abandoned.

To be more efficient, Park should continue to look more into the teachers they hire since it’s important to keep teachers. They should keep looking for better alternatives instead of having different substitute teachers each day. That way, if they ever come upon an issue with students being unresponsive, teachers can individually offer solutions.

This would avoid the problem of the teachers feeling like they can’t direct their classes. If Park implements this, they will have better support with students and teachers in general.

One thing that was positive from this experience was the leniency of grading. One of my teachers is in charge of grading for the whole overall class and I really appreciated how understanding he was because he sees and comprehends students’ perspectives and how it can impact students’ grades with the teacher leaving things empty in the gradebook. This creates an opportunity for students to be able to adjust and fix their grade before the semester ends.