The math placement test that I took in sixth grade still affects my math level today. Therefore, I believe that we should eliminate the requirement for a teacher recommendation to take an Advanced Placement, honors, or accelerated course at Dana Hall, so that students can have full control over their course level. The English Department adopted this policy several years ago, and the Social Studies Department adopted it this year, and I believe that all departments should follow suit.
Students should be able to have challenges by choice, which will empower students to take control of their learning and seek deeper understanding of the material. In order for the school to uphold its values of female audacity and education, students must be encouraged to choose their own educational path. Furthermore, when students aren’t allowed to take advanced courses due to teachers not believing that they will succeed, they are deprived of educational opportunity and the potential to succeed. Students know themselves and their potential best, so if they believe that they can take on the challenge then they should be allowed to do so.
Making this a reality in the Math and Science Departments can start by letting freshmen choose if they want to pursue the advanced track for their math and science courses at the start of high school. Although incoming freshmen may not know exactly what courses they intend to take throughout high school, allowing them to choose the track that they intend to pursue will allow them to take control of their future from the start. I believe that incoming students should have a conversation with their advisor via email over the summer to understand what the demands of the course are and how it is more rigorous than the non-advanced course, so that they will understand what they are signing up for, but ultimately, it should be the student’s choice regarding what classes they want to take.
Furthermore, the level that you are placed in when you were a freshman or even in middle school should not have as large of an impact on which classes one can take for the rest of one’s high school career. It is important to recognize that there are differences in the material learned in an advanced course compared to a non-advanced one. Therefore, since the student who didn’t take an advanced course in math or science previously but wants to take an advanced course in the future hasn’t learned the same things, they may not be as well prepared to take the advanced course. To compensate for this, I believe that there should be required summer work that the student must do to move up a level, to ensure that they will be equally prepared for the year ahead as the other students in the class.
While the Science Department has leveled courses beginning in freshman year and the math department has leveled courses beginning in seventh grade, as of this year there are no honors level courses for language courses until level three of the course. Therefore, it should be even easier for the Language Department to make the change towards complete self-selection for students, for students only need to choose their level for level three and Advanced Placement language courses. To make this change, I believe that the Language Department should follow the same steps as the science and math departments, such as allowing students to pick their track beginning in freshman year and allowing students to move into advanced courses later in high school as long as they complete the required summer work.
Image source: Cambridge University