Harrisburg High School administrators have decided to make some changes in courses for next school year. Some elective classes will be removed from the registration process, while some classes will be added and changed around. I think some of these changes will be great for students while some of the other changes will not affect much.
Guidance counselor Tonja Hester says that we will have new classes coming in for next year, such as several new math classes, because of some changes in the curriculum. From Algebra 2 Honors there will be new options such as College Algebra which will be dual credit or Intermediate Algebra which can also be dual credit. Pre-Calculus will now only be one semester long and Calculus will be one semester long. With these math classes changing it will give students more dual credit options. If they plan to go to college, they will be able to complete more credits here at the high school. These changes will be amazing for students to get a head start on college credits.
Some classes will also be taken out of the course options for next year, such as English Concepts, the slower-paced English class for juniors. Hester says that they are trying to get as many dual credit options for the students as possible. English teacher Stephanie Winkler will be teaching English 121 in her honors English 4 class first semester, and second semester she will be offering English 122. Both will be dual credit, but students must take the Accuplacer test and score high enough in order to be placed in these classes. These changes are happening so that students will have way more dual credit options. Hester says that she’s hoping to get as many dual credit classes as possible for next year. The English class option will be good for students who are good at testing but for students that aren’t, it may not be a good option because the Accuplacer is involved.
There will also be some changes in elective classes; some classes will be taken out and some new ones will be coming in. Photo and Design with English teacher Hilary Ford will not be offered next year. One elective that will be returning to the schedule is Electronics with science Janet Hughes. She has taught this class before and in order to take that class, students will need to have passed Algebra 1. The Photo and Design will be taken out because we will be one English teacher short next year and that required losing some electives to cover the required classes. Electronics will be taking its place as a new option. I think Electronics will be a good option for students considering certain careers such as a lineman, an electrician, and some fields in engineering.
I think that some of these new classes will be really good for students that want to go to college. There will be a lot of new dual credit options that will help students get an advantage on their college years and it will give them a taste of what college courses would be like for them. As for students that don’t want to attend college, these classes would still be a good option for them to advance further in these subjects if they’re interested in doing that. I don’t really think the changes will affect all students that much, but the new courses will open new doors for some.
