Under a new state bill, incoming freshmen will need less courses to graduate starting next year. Students under the Recommended Graduation Plan will need a minimum of 22 credits to graduate instead of 26.
While the State Board of Education debates the exact requirements, which will go into effect for ninth graders in the fall of 2014, individual districts can still make their own graduation policies.
The new bill, which was approved on a 14-1 vote, requires that students take career oriented classes in either STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), Business and Industry, Public Services, Arts and Humanities or Multidisciplinary Studies.
“This new graduation program would be great for anyone who doesn’t plan on going to a four-year university. It’s for students who will directly go into the workforce,” AP Physics Teacher Kirstin Gonzales-Vega said. “Having these different career-based classes will benefit them.”
Under the new bill, only students who choose the STEM “endorsement” for graduation, or seek a diploma with “distinguished achievement,” will be required to take Algebra II. Under the
original proposal, all students in the five graduation paths would have had to
take Algebra II. The bill also cuts back exit tests.
“This new graduation program shouldn’t really be advertised, but maybe as a last resort for any student who needs it,” Gonzales-Vega said. “The classes that this new program isn’t requiring are important for students to learn, and under this new program, students aren’t set up for success. Honestly, all students should stay on the Distinguished and Recommended Program.”
The bill also limits the number of required science and social studies courses from four credits to three. Students will no longer need classes like World History or Speech, a required one-semester
course.
“By lowering educational standards, you just lower the goals that student strive for,” senior Sam Nohra said. “House Bill 5 doesn’t make students more intelligent, it just makes the system less challenging.”
While some teachers believe that limiting the amount of math, science and social science requirements creates a less rigorous coursework for students, others believe that requiring career oriented classes will benefit student’s choices for the future.
“I think the upper levels classes that students are currently required to take only benefit the students that want to take those classes,” calculus teacher Chad Gilliland said. “Having the new career oriented classes gives students more choice for their future.”