Masterman Needs Better Courses

In recent years, Masterman has been expanding, with five classes of freshmen, as opposed to four in previous years. You would expect this to result in an expansion of course offerings. Yet, even as the best school in the state, and a prestigious ranking as #8 in the nation, we still offer less than half of the total Advanced Placement (AP) courses available nationwide. 

Notably, Masterman only currently offers four of the ten history and social sciences AP courses offered by the College Board, and two of the ten arts courses. High school is such a crucial time to explore interests, yet offering such a slim amount of courses makes it nearly impossible for students to branch out. 

Though there's been some progress, it's been staggering. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, new courses began to be offered to incoming juniors: AP Psychology, Photography, and Creative Writing. 

Tess Mullen (‘26) first found herself interested in writing during her freshman year in Mr. Kamison’s English class. When she first heard that Masterman would be offering a creative writing class, she was extremely enthusiastic and intended to enroll during this school year. However, the email sent out to the entire class was misleading, implying that the course would be available to the senior class. In reality, it was only available to incoming juniors. Mullen was upset when she found out that the class wouldn't be offered to her due to the misleading nature of the email she received. 

Administration is leaving students to be misled about courses offered. Miscommunications aren't the only issue: limited availability prevents students from taking courses in subject areas they're passionate about. Not only is the number of courses offered extremely low, but the seats offered in each course often leave students unable to take certain courses. 

Reel Taha (‘26) was one of four students not selected to take AP Chemistry during her junior year. Because 37 students signed up to take the course, and the maximum number of students in one class is 33, administration was forced to use a random generator to choose which students would have the opportunity to take it. She had first become interested in Chemistry while taking it in her sophomore year, and because of the overlap it contained with her intended college major. She expressed her frustration about not being admitted, solely because they didn't have enough space. She settled with Spanish 4 Honors, which she felt didn't align as much with her interests. Students shouldn't be left to settle on courses, especially when a course more interesting to them is offered.