Academic ‘silos’ isolate students from each other

As I took a cursory glance around my AP U.S. History class on the first day of school, I noted that there were only two unfamiliar faces in a class otherwise full of friends and close acquaintances. Going through the rest of my day, I could not help but notice that I had many of the same people in my classes. As Facebook groups for different classes were created throughout the first week of school, I saw the same names over and over again. Where was the rest of the Class of 2017?

  This subtle separation among my peers has been occurring since sophomore year, ever since students could choose between honors or regular classes. With a greater variety of difficulty levels for required classes comes a decreased variety in the faces a student sees in his or her classes. As a result, there are “invisible people,” or people who we may know of and see around campus for four years but never talk to because we never share a class with them.

  I have attended schools in Saratoga for five years now, and I would like to think that I know, or at least know of, everyone in my graduating class. But the truth is that I don’t.

The variety of classes students take can determine their social circles and prevent them from interacting with others in their class. In this way, students are losing out on a diversified experience and a wide range of perspectives.

By opting for AP Biology instead of one of the other sciences or choosing regular English classes over the Media Arts Program, for example, students can eliminate the possibility of sharing a class with many of their peers. By junior year, many students find themselves in a sort of AP/Honors "echo chamber," where the same people are come and go in different combinations in each of their classes, detracting from an ideal and diversified learning experience that strengthens class solidarity.

Although students may not regret the decision to take the classes they did, the missed opportunity to interact with a greater diversity of students is regretted.

Ultimately, as a result of self-initiated tracking, students lose out on a wide range of perspectives that other people in their class can provide. A student may have a very compatible personality with another, but simply never get the chance to interact much with him or her in the first place.

Instead, many class connections can only be forged during whole-class events such as rallies or Homecoming, but these events are few and far in between, not allowing students to form close bonds.

To promote class unity and help students expand their “social circles,” more class events should be held that help students truly get to know other people in their graduating class rather than just the same group of people they have class with year after year. In the same way freshmen are able to see their peers through the Link Crew Ice Cream Social, other classes should have events for their respective classes.

Although many complain that freshmen and sophomores have limited honors options, it is during these two years that students can get to know any other student in their grade. With this in mind, having classes with different skill levels, such as how MAP classes are organized where students in honors and regular are in the same class, would promote more unity.

In addition, all can make a better effort to step out of our comfort zone and talk to people outside of classes. This issue cannot be solved by just class officers trying to help, but must be by the entire student body making a unified effort.

Regardless of the classes we take or the people we talk to once a year or daily, the experiences that will remain will be the ones of a unified and diversified class. And that is what we should strive for, connections with each other to make our high school lives unforgettable.