Think of it like this: you finally get to plan your schedule for the upcoming school year, and there are a couple of science and art classes you want to take. However, you still need to fill up your gym and English credits, which prevents you from taking the classes you want to take. This is probably a scenario many high school students go through every time they plan their schedules.
As you can see, many students cannot take the classes they wish to take because of the mandatory courses and credits they need to take to graduate. Schools should not make certain classes mandatory or have students take core classes for a certain number of years. It is unnecessary. For instance, SHS requires all students to have four English credits to graduate, meaning, a student needs to take an English class each year of their high school career to graduate.
Most students don’t like coming to school because of the classes they have to take. They might find it challenging to concentrate and have difficulty understanding the material, which then leads students to have low performance for that specific course. Instead, students should be able to choose what type of core class they would like to take. To elaborate, SHS requires freshmen to take American history as their social studies credit. Instead, students should have the opportunity to choose what type of social studies class they would like; such as – world history, psychology, modern world, etc.
Many students plan to go to college after high school, meaning that these required courses would benefit them. Universally, most colleges require four years of English and math, which is a requirement at SHS. In contrast, others use high school as career exploration if they want to pursue a career right after high school. Having mandatory classes does not fit well within the high school goals of each student. If a student knows that they intend to go straight into the workforce, fulfilling the required economic or gym credits seems to be unneeded.
Some may argue that colleges also obligate students to take specific years of their core classes. While this is often true, students know what college they want and what courses their desired college requires them to take. Students should decide whether or not they should take those courses. Students should take the required courses based on their desired college. Meaning, not every student would be obligated to take the necessary classes.
Mandatory classes should become optional/elective classes. Instead of requiring SHS students to take physical education, fine arts, economics, government, English etc., we should instead leave those courses to be elective classes. In turn, this will help students have a broader range of courses they could take for the school year; allowing them to have their own choice in choosing courses, while also giving them the motivation to perform well in the classes they choose to do.