A Younger Perspective

Three students from a previous interview on whether or not Spaulding High School students should have more say in their curriculum participated in a follow up interview that was more in depth and detailed.

Maddie Hudson, freshman, spoke about the future, and the classes she has enjoyed. She states that she has enjoyed all of her required classes so far, and there were none she disliked, as of right now. Though, the classes she must take have not prepared her at all for the future she wants for herself after high school. She wants to go to college to be a dentist or a marine biologist, and none of the required classes included in Spaulding’s curriculum have helped prepare her for that. She did not even know any of the classes that the technology center here at our school offers, because she has been so focused on the classes she must take in order to graduate.

Another freshman named Lucas (no last name given) gives some insight into mental health and what they believe should be taught in high schools in order to prepare people for life outside of school. Lucas wants to be able to take every single art class that there is, but in order for them to be able to do that, they will have to complete the majority of their required classes before it is possible. When asked whether or not taking so many required classes is too difficult or stressful for students, they responded that so many of the students at Spaulding have bad mental health, and they were not shy about pointing out that school rarely helps that sort of situation.

The last student who was interviewed on February 4, 2020 was a sophomore boy named Michael Lee. He was willing to spare about ten minutes of his art class to be interviewed again. He responded to questions promptly, and with good humour. He agrees that Spaulding requires too many classes, though he does not think the curriculum should exactly be changed, but he thinks that students should have more say in the classes they are taking in order to better direct them on the right path to the future they would like. While he believes that tech classes would be a great idea for him, he knows that if he wants to go to med school he has to focus on a mainly academic-based curriculum. He has admitted that academic classes are a bit stressful, though the health science program in the tech could greatly improve his chances of getting into the medical field later on in life.

The students who were interviewed were underclassmen, which is important to point out for a few reasons. They believe the curriculum should be changed because they do not like the fact that so many classes are required to graduate, yet they do not have a straight answer as to what they would change. They have only just barely started looking into electives. They want to follow a path that’s right for them, yet they tend to be pretty hesitant when asked if they know what their path is. Once they move on through the years, they will start to notice how the required classes pile up and leave little room for electives and dtech programs. Yet this look into their opinion was helpful in building an argument as to why the higher-ups should allow the required curriculum at Spaulding High School to change.

Article by Hannah MacDonald