Staff editorial: Humanities need love too

Cartoon by Joanna Lee

Every year when it comes time for course requests, students peruse the various options available to them: Chemistry Honors or regular? Calculus AB or Calculus BC? AP Physics or AP Bio? With several options available in the math and science departments, students can choose classes that best fit their needs and abilities. Yet for students who are interested in the humanities, these options are limited.

The current curriculum places greater emphasis on math and science, leaving few opportunities for humanities-driven students. Students cannot take an Honors or AP track in English or History until junior year, while several students begin taking Honors or AP math as early as freshman year. This imbalance places students who excel in English and History at a disadvantage.

Living in the Silicon Valley, most students are highly exposed to fields related to math and science; however, students with an inclination toward humanities should not be neglected. While it is true that many graduates will go on to work in fields such as engineering and medicine, the school should work to recognize the entire spectrum of student talent, not just the dominant portion of it.

Fortunately, the school is working to fix this imbalance, and next year’s schedule will allow for the option to take AP European History as well as the opportunity for a select few students to “double up” AP English Literature and AP Language Composition. However, these options will only be available to upperclassmen, leaving underclassmen with still no options to take advanced classes.

Only purely humanities-driven students will benefit from this change, while students who simply prefer liberal arts to math and science remain overlooked. Offering AP or Honors humanities courses to underclassmen would allow for more schedule flexibility in the long-term. Instead of focusing solely on humanities for one year, students would be able to place a greater emphasis on subjects they enjoyed more and space out their AP or Honors humanities courses throughout high school.

Compared to other schools, there are currently very few AP humanities classes offered to students. Nearby private school Harker offers five AP classes in English and History, including AP World History and AP US Government. At Los Gatos High School, students may enroll in Honors English during freshman and sophomore years, followed by both AP Lang and AP Lit.

Currently, our school offers eight AP courses related to math and science. The English and History departments, however, only offer three AP courses that cannot be taken until junior and senior years. While several students enroll in Algebra 2 Honors and Trig/Pre-Calc Honors as underclassmen, those who excel in humanities courses are unable to enroll in Honors or AP until junior year.

While the current budget does not allow for a large amount of extra spending, the option of English 10 Honors or AP World History during sophomore year would challenge and benefit humanities-driven students. On the college level, the extra grade point from AP and Honors classes would place students on the same level as students who take AP or Honors math and science as underclassmen.

While the addition of humanities classes is a step in the right direction, more must be done if the school wants to truly level the playing field. No matter what their strengths are, all students should have an equal opportunity to succeed academically.