Do We Need Expo?

By Will Duffy

Every school has something they are known for. MS 442 is the School for Innovation, focusing on robotics, New Voices directs its curriculum towards the arts, and our school earns its D15 rep with our Exploration program. Described as “Every class rolled into one” by eighth grader Wilman Conce, the program mainly focuses on social justice and activism, with every class having one “Expo day” every six days, where 3-5 periods of the day are dedicated to the class; depending on what grade you are in. But while the program is the flagship part of our school, it has proven to be one of the less popular classes among students.

“It’s my least favorite class and I find myself dreading Expo day.” Nathan Milkes from 803 said when asked about his feelings on the class. The idea that Expo is an unnecessary class is popular among the students. “I feel like it’s a waste of time and education sometimes.” Wilman Conce from 806 stated when asked if he agreed that we didn’t need Expo. 

One driving reason for not needing Expo is the curriculum. Almost every unit throughout every grade focuses on social justice and other topics related to it. In sixth grade, the class mainly focuses on food justice and taking action for the cause. In Sixth grade, students take trips to farmers markets and greenhouses. 7th grade expo mainly focuses on making social change in our community with art. And in 8th grade, the curriculum is based on youth activism and differing types of social justice, like climate change and health justice. “Expo should focus less on global issues and make it more of an interdisciplinary class.” Nathan said. 

One thing popular about Expo is the trips. One of the main focuses of Expo is the trips taken throughout the year. In Sixth grade, students take trips to farmers' markets and greenhouses to correlate with the food justice unit. Seventh graders go on trips such as a graffiti walk in Bushwick or the Materials for the Arts building in Astoria to help with their art for social justice.  Eighth-grade students go on trips to important historical places such as Grand Army Plaza and the Museum of Chinese Americans to learn more about their studies. Some students say that the trips are their favorite part of Expo, and say that their favorite days in Expo are always going on trips that are also able to relate to the class. 

Most people I know wish that Expo was more spread out between periods. The long stretch of the same period in a row makes it a least favorite period for most because people like to do things over the week, not all in one day. “They should make the long days more efficient and add more breaks if they are going to keep Expo days going,” Wilman said when asked about Expo days.  “I liked Expo a lot more when I was in 6th grade and it was split up between a few days,” Nathan said.

Personally, I think Expo needs at least a major revamp. Students are consistently disinterested and bored during the long periods of the class, and from what I observe, most people agree with me. I think the scheduling should go back to what it was during the 2022-23 school year. It can have the same number of periods, but spread them out over the letter days to keep students from being bored in the class or losing interest after a few periods. I also think the classes shouldn’t focus on social justice every year. I heard that the eighth graders used to do forensic science, and I think that my classmates and I would enjoy that more than focusing on social justice every year. 

 In conclusion, the controversial topic of Expo is consistently a topic of debate among students, but I think it’s mostly agreed that the class of Expo needs a rework, or something else to help students feel more focused, and use class time more effectively.