It is no secret that many Cal High students pile rigorous AP and honors classes into their schedules.
What might not be as apparent is a lack of variety in the advanced classes offered.
High school should be a time for students to explore different subjects so that they ultimately narrow down their career interests. Students don’t want to wait until college to find out that a field they plan to pursue is not what they expected.
But with Cal’s current limited selection, some students are unable to tailor their classes to the career path they want to explore post-high school.
For example, Cal offers a glimpse into computer science through AP Computer Science Principles and AP Computer Science A. But there is no advanced career pathway for engineering as there is for biomedical and computer science. Such a pathway would provide students with more opportunities to gain important professional skills early in life.
AP classes are meant to give students college-level coursework, while honors classes are slightly more challenging than regular classes. Both are meant to provide students with a more extensive educational experience.
But when students find that traditional classes don’t provide an appropriate challenge for them, there is not a diverse enough advanced course catalog for students to experiment with.
This absence is most apparent in honors classes, which has a limited variety at Cal. Of the 11 honors classes offered, seven are STEM courses. And of the four remaining, three are world languages.
Options to add to the honors course catalog include honors social studies, honors English, and honors business. Honors business is a career-oriented course for a very popular major.
For instance, Honors English 11 would be the perfect balance between the difficulty of AP Language and Composition and English 11. But as of ten years ago, Honors English courses were discontinued by the district, so students are left to choose between classes that are too challenging and ones not challenging enough.
For their desired rigor, students have resorted to taking classes at DVC or BYU, where a variety of college-level courses are available.
Students find this same problem with AP courses. For classes that are meant to give students a college-like experience, they lack specificity.
Classes such as AP Calculus and AP Psychology spend too much time covering general topics that are not unique enough to the course in order for a student to gain a nuanced understanding of a subject they might want to pursue.
Students would be more interested in covering particular themes, theories or areas of knowledge in their coursework that would offer a specialized education in certain subjects.
Cal should be striving to make more widespread educational opportunities for advanced students. That way, they can get a head start on preparing for their careers even before they receive a high school diploma.
