Students need two more elective blocks

Marny A.

In the ISM Middle School academic program, 7th and 8th graders can take one year-long and one semester elective or three semester electives. So the whole school year, students only get to choose 2-3 electives that they want to take. But I believe students should have the option to pick more. Middle Schoolers should have to take two more electives a year.

Some people may disagree saying that having more electives comes with a price of longer school days, more work, less focus on core subjects, and more grade pressure. However, I beg to disagree. Having more electives would come with more pros than there are cons. Here’s how:

Having two more electives is a chance to explore a wider variety of experiences. The impact this would have on the Middle School schedule would depend on High School schedule since they can’t clash with one another. Therefore, there’s a chance that there would either be longer school days or shorter class periods. Nonetheless, either way would be worth it when you get to discover what your passions truly are.

A broad curriculum can help students understand their potential and, based on that self-knowledge, deepen their understanding, skills and capabilities. Students are expected to develop holistically. They’re expected to find identity, meaning, and purpose in life through different activities that are not only about academics. Additionally, Middle School is not High School, so our grades won’t play a big role in our transcript. There shouldn’t be as much pressure since our grades won’t define our chances of going to college.

Moreover, instead of making you focus less on your core subjects, more electives help improve your learning. An article from teach.com states, “Multisensory environments not only cater to each individual student, but it is also known to improve the development of thought.” As electives are hands-on and multisensory, they serve as a way to develop our kinaesthetic skills which improves our cognitive learning, helping us perform well on our core subjects.

All in all, this is Middle School we’re talking about. The wide variety of choices are only given starting in 7th grade, and having only two years to choose around 6 out of 20 things we want without worrying about college isn’t enough. We should have two more electives for the school year to truly understand what we want and improve our learning.

 Mildred Y.

Here in ISM, students are given an opportunity to select from a wide range of electives. These electives allow students to be exposed to a larger field of different activities that may interest them in the future, develop and better enhance their life skills. However, should there be two more electives added into the school year? Students should not have two more electives for the school year. 

Students are often heard complaining about being tired in the middle of classes and school days being long. Having extra electives added into the school year may seem harmless, however, it will eventually impact students. They may have a bad sleeping schedule, due to insufficient time to complete their homework. It can also cause students to not have enough time to attend after school activities as school would end at a later time.

Two extra electives in the school year also means having extra assessments for students to complete, causing them to be more stressed over an assessment. Since electives are a more relaxed subject, parents may have a higher expectation of their child as they may think that electives are a chance to get a good grade. Core subjects itself cause academic stress to students and added pressure from their parents may cause them to be stressed over an elective assessment that would not affect their overall grade.

Although electives can allow students to bond with friends and develop their skills and deepen their understanding, do keep in mind that the teachers teaching the electives would be greatly affected. In these elective classes, students are to take more assessments resulting in teachers having to grade more work from students. Teachers would not only be busy grading student’s assessments but also planning more lessons, causing them to have longer working hours and having insufficient rest at night.

 Electives are a good time for students to spend time with each other as well as develop different skills and interests. The current number of electives in a school year is a good amount for students to have a good and healthy lifestyle. An additional two electives may be beneficial to students but at the end of the day, middle schoolers still have a long way to go in life and there are definitely plenty of opportunities for students to develop their skills.