Filling out course requests often proves to be a stressful and time-consuming process — from experiencing pressure from parents, friends and self-doubt to juggling MVHS’ existing graduation requirements, students deal with the overarching fear of making a mistake when it comes to their future. The Health and Ethnic Studies imminent requirement and the future Financial Literacy course will become an additional concern for students. They may be limited in choice beyond their core classes due to the increasing number of mandatory courses— and as a result, different elective programs may die out at MVHS.
New California legislation (Assembly Bill 2927) requires high schools to have a semester-long financial literacy course by 2027-28, and to make it a graduation requirement by the 2030-31 school year. Ethnic Studies is mandated for freshman starting next year — with MVHS and Lynbrook High School being the only FUHSD schools that offer the course this school year.
Despite electives giving students flexibility in choosing courses, required courses take away their ability to explore different subjects in school. The addition of mandatory classes freshmen year will cause core subjects and electives to fill up six class periods, resulting in no room for additional electives unless students take an optional seventh class. School is designed to help students build toward a future career and find their interests, but limiting their exploration denies curiosity and leaves them stuck in a factory rotation of different mandated classes.
Electives such as Drama or Writing for Publication, which target freshmen, would see their enrollment decline, ultimately limiting the pathway of exploration over the course of all four years that many current students enjoy. Within an academically rigorous, STEM-focused environment like MVHS, these programs offer a creative outlet and a tight-knit community in which students can express themselves. As the growing number of required courses limits students’ opportunities to participate in these programs, some students can lose the ability to explore part of their personality and form intricate relationships, which these programs nurture.
I can attest to the effect an extra required course would have had on my freshman year. Writing for Publication was the only non-language elective my schedule had space for since I needed a free seventh period to take care of my younger sister. If a mandatory course had taken that spot instead, I would have either given up Writing for Publication or not been able to babysit my sister.
The same issue may arise for incoming freshmen when they consider how to balance their schedules while also completing course requirements. Course credits are important not just for graduation, but also for college — in 2023, 56% of California high school students graduated without completing the required A-G courses for California’s public universities in 2023. Adding more compulsory classes would further complicate the graduation requisites for students. More time would be put into maintaining these requirements leading to students losing the excitement and freedom that makes learning fulfilling.
While the new mandatory courses may ensure each student graduates with a well-rounded education, students will inevitably lose the communities at MVHS which for them may be a second home. To mitigate the impacts of these required courses, we must give students the choice of when they decide to take them. Health and Ethnic Studies will be a required course for freshmen, but students should be able to choose where both these courses and the financial literacy course fits best in their four-year plan. Another option may be to make the financial literacy course asynchronous, allowing students to learn the curriculum in their own time and to explore other electives at school.
One way or another, balancing required courses with electives at school is necessary to ensure personal diversity. Losing the artistic niches of MVHS would lead to a less vibrant environment, where we students are left without the possibility of expression.
