It’s the time of the year in which Middletown North students overlook dozens of pages of small print and confusing diagrams. That’s right, its course selection time.
This year Middletown North students have been given a slate of new courses, especially so in the sphere of history classes. Three new AP courses, Human Geography, World History, and U.S. Government and Politics will be offered to incoming 11th and 12th graders. In addition, a CP version of U.S. Government and Politics will be offered for students entering their sophomore through senior year of high school.
In addition to new classes, the Middletown Public School District is also installing the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Pathway program to both Middletown North and South. The district hopes that the new program will prepare students for technology driven jobs by pushing a curriculum driven by math and science courses. In addition to being expected to maintain a minimum of a C average in classes, students who wish to participate in STEM will also have to be active in extracurricular activities in clubs such as the Math Team, Academic Team, or TV Production to maintain their status in the program.
Change has also found its way in the foreign language department as well. The Honors 5 and 6 level classes for Spanish and French have been replaced with Advanced A/B level classes. The High School Course Selection Guide described the class as being for students “seeking to continue study in a language beyond Level 4 Honors or in lieu of Advanced Placement.”
Another change made was in the high school graduation requirements. Now, the district is going to require six and a half years worth of addition course selections (or 32.5 credits) to graduation in comparison to last year where three and a half years (22.5 credits) was required. Students in the Class of 2015 will need a minimum of one hundred and thirty-five credits at the end of their senior year in order to graduate. The Classes of 2016 and beyond will require a minimum of one hundred and forty credits in order to get handed their diploma on graduation day.
As students have barely just survived the first half of the 2013/2014 school year, they are being asked to choose their next courses for another one hundred and eighty days of their educational journey. They will consult with their parents, counselors, and conscience about taking advance and challenging course and try to paint a decent transcript that will help them achieve their futuristic goals. When radical Thomas Paine said, “these are the times that try men’s souls,” it was far before Horace Mann could conceive the concept of common, or public, education. However, students must digest and articulate their academic choices for next year soon in order hand their selections into the guidance department by Wednesday, February 19th.
