Have you figured out your 2015-2016 schedule yet?
Yeah, I haven’t either.
Unbelievably, although second semester for Roslyn High School is only a few weeks in, schedules for next year are already well in the making. With multiple honors and regular core subjects and an abundance of 50 electives, scheduling can become very overwhelming, no matter what grade you’re entering.
Making decisions for something months away can be difficult. Who knows who you’ll be in six months? Who were you, and what were you interested in six months ago?
For the artist, the art department offers a wide variety of courses, from half credit semester classes like Photography, to a full-year and full credit course like Studio Art. You can try Sculpture, Advertising Design, Digital Design, Fashion Design or Ceramics.
Turn the corner in the art wing and walk into an English elective. Some are more general, like “Children’s Literature.” Or, you can go focus on a favorite decade and take a class in “The Sixties: Woodstock.”
Is Science your thing? Look into courses with titles such as “Are you Sick Again?” and “It’s Easy Being Green.”
The science offerings also include Paleontology, Marine Biology and The Science of Science Fiction.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Around 50 courses are offered, but only about half will actually run each year.
So how is the final list decided and what happens if you’re dying to take, say, Forensic Science, but it gets cut?
Some electives are more popular than others, and the amount of students choosing a class determine whether or not it runs.
According to Arthur Mandel, director of guidance, there is a growing trend in business and engineering electives in Roslyn.
As time and technology increases, he says, so have the interests of the students. Therefore, next year’s electives list includes, Intro to Business as well as Fashion Marketing, Sports and Entertainment Market Investments and Business Law.
Scheduling gets complicated as high school students get older as the options for core classes also expand.
Every department offers honors and regular classes, as well as different versions of the basic course. So a 10th grade student can take Global History 2 or Global 2 honors or World Humanities or AP Euro History.
Many options in the curriculum and many levels of classes might keep students engaged in learning.
Some teachers tap into this idea of meeting specific interests by surveying students. While others, incorporate their own personal interests into the course design.
Either way, these certainly aren’t the average class lists of years gone by. Just look at how you can get your Physical Education credits.
There’s the regular PE class that teaches skills over a wide variety of units from archery to rock-climbing to volleyball. You can find me there. Or, for the more intense and competitive athlete, there’s Extreme PE.
But if you are into a more laid-back yoga/dance-type class, there’s Fitness.
High School teaches lots of things, like the development of early civilizations, graphing, or whatever we’re learning in science, this week.
But it also teaches teens to branch out and try new ideas. Having so many options fosters this idea, according to Mr. Mandel: “It allows students to explore their interests, possibly defining their majors in college.”
So, finding something to be passionate about now- with a huge list of electives to choose from – can help students make bigger decisions later in life.
Being independent is a powerful thing. Allowing every student to be independent helps us find out who we are and who we are meant to be.
