G.H.S.

TV Production Class Removed From CURRICULUM

By Reporter Alice Bishop

For Gloucester High School’s 2018-2019 school year, the TV Production class has been removed, and potentially permanently. Rumors around the school say it was removed because few students chose to take the class, leaving an impression it was not a popular class or there was not enough funding to keep the class going, due to the expense of cameras and other bits of technology.

Gloucester High School provides many classes which can encourage and help students to find a job after high school. For the past few years, GHS provided a class for students interested in TV Production. The class allowed students to get an idea of what it would be like to work on a TV or movie set by working with cameras, scripts, and video editing.When a student did TV production for their second year, they were able to actually film and air the Duke Daily, which was a video presented to the school everyday. The Duke Daily’s essential purpose was to tell students vital information to the school, such as whether or not it was an “A” or “B” day, what was for lunch, and all other important announcements. Unfortunately, not many teachers could play the video because the site would either not work, the video would not load, or there might have not even been a video to watch.

Guidance Counselor Mr. Matt Lord confirmed that TV Production was removed because of little to no students being interested in the class. “Not many students were signing up for it, and as some students did sign up for it the class would become part-time.” The reason the class was introduced in the first place was because the interest level from students was very high, and as time went on TV Production II and III had less students entering the class. Since so few students entered the class, TV Production would have to become a part-time class and job. Unfortunately the TV Production teacher decided to leave, leaving the class without a teacher.

While there is currently no class in the TV Production’s old classroom, there is definitely not a lack of ideas and plans for what could take its place. “The space will be used, but the question is what the students are interested in,” stated Mr. Lord as he explained how student interest in certain subjects affects whether or not the school has the class or not. This can even effect core classes such as math or sciences. If students were interested in video game designing, but there was a lack of interest in art, the school would likely remove the art class and replace it with video game designing if possible.

As Mr. Lord elaborating, “Student interest can be in one area, but not have a teacher available.” Being in charge of what courses are available or not to the students can become quite a struggle to figure out. GHS offers many courses for students to take interest and participate in, and the community of Gloucester is very involved and cares a lot about what the students are offered. These courses allow for students to discover different careers and potentially pick which one they would like to pursue.

“All the [classes are] about being useful, we need useful. We need students to leave here trained to work [because] employers want people to know what they want to do [for their jobs],” meaning the programs offered to students are chosen and created to set up students to either further their education, get a job, or both. Many ideas and plans are being created for what new classes can be presented to the students, or how the space can be used to improve or help current classes. “Anything that changes, takes time to become something,” stated Mr. Lord.

Many students are not aware the school removed an elective this year because they either were not interested in or did not know about the class. These students were not directly affected unlike students who participated and had an interest in the class. A handful of students who previously took TV Production were asked how they felt about the class being removed and their opinion of the class.

Sophomore Jacob Maddox thought the course was okay, and it had caught his interest when he was trying to switch out of Spanish class. His guidance counselor had told him about students learning to use cameras and how the course taught students about different jobs when working on a set. “I wanted to be a director, and wanted to learn how to [become a] director and direct people,” stated Jacob as he explained what career had intrigued him in TV Production. In the class, students learn to use a variety of gadgets to help introduce the different careers a student could possibly get after high school.

Maddox was very interested in learning about cameras and other bits of technology, which helped build his growing love of learning about technology. While Maddox enjoyed some aspects of the TV Production class, there were many faults that ruined his experience. Quite a few students were “aloof or lazy”. Students being allowed to be disruptive caused quite a bit of disruption and the inability to get much done.

This can cause students to lose interest in the subject because students tell their friends how they did not doing anything, and recommend them to not take the course. Maddox explained he was partially upset because the class itself was removed. Sophomore Austin Williams also took TV Production one before it was removed. He enjoyed the course, but disliked the lack of leadership done by the teacher. There was no warnings before the class was given a test or quiz, and they were supposedly given odd jobs to do. Williams states that he would take the class again, but is not sad the class is gone. When asked about what he thinks caused the class to be removed, Williams stated,”Budget cuts, probably could not keep paying repairs on the cameras.”

TV Production at one point was an excellent class for the school to have, but everything has its peak. While TV Production itself may not come back, there is a large variety of classes to take its place, or at least ideas to help the current classes in GHS. In the end, students of GHS should embrace the classes they are offered, and explore the career options provided through these classes before they are replaced.