Although there are great classes and opportunities for students with a passion for art, music, history, or English, does Clayton put more of an emphasis on the value of science? Why are there no honors history classes offered to freshmen or sophomores? How can we change our possibly science-centric society? Should we?
When I was still an eighth grader, I remember the buzz amidst the rest of my class—who was recommended to what class, what classes everyone was actually going to take in high school. If there was one thing I remember the most though, it was the fact that out of all of the honors classes students were recommended to take by their teachers, there was one class that stood out in terms of the hot topic: who was taking Honors Freshman Physics.
I came to CHS without really thinking much about it, but then a year ago, my younger sister Cherry went through the exact same process. She came home, and told me how everybody just keeps talking about who was recommended for Honors Freshman Physics. I asked her about the honors classes, but she seemed to only want to talk about the science track.
Even last year for me, the talk of my class was always who was taking AP Bio-Chem and who wasn’t. It never seemed to be the topic of who was going to go on to Honors American Literature or who was going to take AP World or US. So then the question is, why is everybody so focused on the sciences?
There is no doubt that Clayton does a wonderful job providing opportunities for anybody’s interest. But it could very well be that Clayton puts much more emphasis on the sciences. Already, there is that notion that the smartest kid in the grade is incredibly amazing in the science area. And if we look at the number of trophies in the science wing compared to the history wing, it’s fairly obvious that science is emphasized at Clayton.
Having a science-centric society is not necessarily a terrible thing, but all subjects should be emphasized just as equally. For example, for history, there is not an honors track for the freshmen and sophomores while there is always an honors track for the sciences. But if a student is intelligent in the history area, shouldn’t he be given the opportunity to challenge himself just like those who are stronger in science?
School should be a place where students can excel in their own interests, but sometimes it seems difficult when school focuses a little more on one subject compared to the others.
If this happens, of course more students are going to be geared to the science class, but that shouldn’t be the case. In fact, it could very well be that the smartest kid is not in the top science class. Intelligence isn’t necessarily about science. Intelligence can be in a musical sense, mathematical and logical sense, or even in a linguistic sense. At times, I feel like those who are whizzes in history or even in English seemed to be understated compared to the science whizzes.
The change is definitely possible. For starters, maybe sophomores or freshmen who really love history can be allowed to take more difficult classes. Or maybe the school can put emphasis on the awards people receive through history competitions. All Clayton needs to do is show that it’s not just science-centered school because the students here are definitely more than that.