In high school, you won’t hear many guidance counselors stressing the importance of electives.
Art, music and physical education courses are often brushed aside to make room for the never-ending list of acronyms: FSA, EOC, SAT and so on. Many elective courses even become a dumping ground for students, with counselors plugging in whatever computer science or journalism class fits their schedule. But schools are doing students a disservice by not making electives more of a priority.
One of the biggest issues that a high school can face is a high dropout rate. Reasons for dropping out of high school vary from student to student and can include a combination of factors involving the individual, their family, the school or the community.
In the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Labor Market Experience in 1979, students said that disliking school played the most significant role in their decision to drop out. Though national high school graduation rates have increased in subsequent decades, student disengagement is still an issue that plagues many high schools.
In the late 1970s and ‘80s, schools began experiencing budget cuts targeting elective and enrichment courses as part of the back-to-basics movement.
When high school students are pressured to do well in required subjects such as biology or algebra but aren’t given the chance to pursue interests through electives, they are bound to become detached from schoolwork. This can lead to cutting class and absenteeism– telltale signs of students at risk of dropping out.
Even when students do make it to high school graduation, a lack of electives could leave them unprepared for post-secondary education or the workforce. Business courses, vocational education and other enrichment classes give high school students the opportunity to start thinking about their future college majors and careers.
Though core classes give students a solid foundation for further learning, electives prepare students for the decision on what they will do for the rest of their lives. It’s ludicrous to expect students to choose a career path in their late teens or early 20s when they haven’t had adequate exposure to the field that they’re interested in.
While high schools are pushing test preparation and credit remediation in order to get students their diplomas, they are leaving young adults wholly unprepared for life beyond high school and the important decisions that come along with it.
But for many high schools, a lack of electives is something that began in just the past few decades. In the late 1970s and ‘80s, schools began experiencing budget cuts targeting elective and enrichment courses as part of the back-to-basics movement. Even more electives were eliminated after the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Neglecting courses that provide students with a well-rounded education will inevitably hurt those same students in the future. Schools are sending adolescents into the “real world” without preparing them for the life decisions that it will confront them with.
It’s unlikely to see America allocating more money toward high school electives in the near future. The Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposal included a cut of more than $3 billion to the Education Department. Disparities in local and state government budgets can also impact funding for electives, leading to significantly different educational opportunities for students across the nation.
It’s not the fault of the individual schools that options for elective courses are often underwhelming and uninteresting. Schools are being forced to neglect enrichment courses and curricula as they are pressured to receive higher standardized test scores and passing rates. But the idea that increased test scores necessarily reflect a better education is a gross misconception.
If schools are pushing test preparation and are bombarding students with reading and math content, test scores are likely to go up. Yet that shouldn’t automatically imply that teachers are being more “effective” or that students are learning more. An increased focus on standardized tests can lead to less time spent on subjects that actually interest or engage students.
Neglecting courses that provide students with a well-rounded education will inevitably hurt those same students in the future. Schools are sending adolescents into the “real world” without preparing them for the life decisions that it will confront them with.
Currently, schools are teaching students that education can’t be fueled by passion by failing to emphasize the importance of enrichment classes. America needs to change what it thinks education should be and how its quality should be measured in order to better serve the interests of the kids that will be leading the nation tomorrow.
Photo courtesy of The Lariat photography
