Many students may have noticed a change in their schedules at the beginning of the 2017 – 2018 school year due to the lack of certain honors classes.

Honors classes are now being limited and are being taken away in favor of Dual Credit, Dual Enrollment or AP classes. For example, seniors no longer have the option of Honors English IV , honors statistics, or honors pre-cal. This has put several students into an upper level class or a regular class, neither of which provides the material that is best suited for them.

Personally, I think students are pushed into a box enough as it is. Most people are not one thing or another, but rather somewhere on a spectrum. Giving students two options: college level or regular, means many pupils are either left in a class that is too difficult or too easy. I find being engaged in classroom activities requires assignments of varying difficulty. If work is too hard, students may lose confidence and become frustrated; however, work that is too easy becomes boring and monotonous. Frustration, boredom, and lack of confidence are not necessarily attributes teachers want in their classrooms. Yet, here we are with a shortening list of honors classes.

I understand why this may seem like a  good idea to administration. The difference between honors and college level classes may seem miniscule, but as someone who has taken a handful of both, I know it is vast. It may seem that students who were in honors courses could push themselves further and try a college level class; however those students may already  be pushing themselves in an honors course. This student is now left in the sticky situation I described, taking a class that is too hard or a class that is too easy. It is not mindful to the variation of students at CHS and their needs. Honors classes provided students a happy medium between college and regular, and many students are left with undesired changes.

Honors classes being taken away is giving students less options for what courses they can take. A multitude of classes of varying subject matter and difficulty provides students a more personal, effective education. Schools should be expanding what they offer for their students, rather than taking away options.