Every year, countless number of WS students drop out of AP classes, or at least, attempt to do so.
For over five years, it has been school policy for students who wish to change their classes after the first two weeks of school to submit a schedule change packet to their counselor; however, many parents, students to teachers are frustrated with this policy.
“I was given a lot of work, but too little time to do it all in” said sophomore Josie Urias.
Urias and many others had realized that one of their AP classes simply could not work with their activities outside of school, let alone, interest them.
“I came to my counselor in the second week of school, but she advised me to wait another week and then see if I still want to switch out” said Urias. She waited patiently and stuck with her decision to switch her classes, however, with the few days that had passed, she was required to fill out the forms and submit her request. She expressed annoyance and frustration about completing the work for a class that she was not continuing with, as it is school policy that until a student is formally enrolled in another class, the student has to follow the coursework and is required to take tests and other assessments of the undesired class.
“I submitted the forms right after my calc teacher, Ms. Rapoza, and I decided that AP Stat would be a better fit for me” said senior Oumaima Atraoui, “I even had to take a quiz although my teacher and I both knew that it wouldn’t count for anything”.
Many seniors have switched from AP Calculus to AP Statistics, as they have found that taking statistics is more suited to their interests and skill level. Atraoui wanted to switch out of her calculus class to statistics as she felt that she was falling behind with large amounts of work assigned to her in her other AP classes, however, the request took a week and a half to be processed. She had to sit through four challenging classes before she could finally attend her desired statistics class. Atraoui’s counselor, Mr. Stahl, had received a schedule change packet from six students in the third week of school who wished to transfer from AP Calculus to another math.
Frustrating both Stahl and Atraoui, her request could not be processed in a quick fashion due to the high demand of requests for schedule changes. The fact is that there are too many students wanting to switch out of their classes for the policy to function properly.
“There is a lack of available seat in classes that students intend to switch to” said counselor, Ms. Knox, “We process around thirty requests a week, and at a fast pace, we are able to switch a student in five to ten days”.
Knox expresses her impatience toward the many students who expect to switch their classes in less than one day as she claims that her and other counselors have carved out spots in each class for every individual, and that it is not the easiest task to change schedules at the flip of a switch.
Although many students may feel that the requirements to switch classes after the first two weeks are harsh and demanding many other schools across the nation do not allow their students to switch under any circumstances.
“Ninety-eight percent of schools in the nation do not allow their students to switch classes after the first two weeks have passed”, said Knox.
She reports that when she came to WS over five years ago, WS followed the same policies that the majority of the nation’s schools followed. Knox suggested that WS change their policies as to assist failing students in finding a class that is more manageable to them, after putting in their best effort for over two weeks.
“In order to switch classes, students to submit their schedule change form, parent letter, as well as a student report” said guidance consoler Ms. Sokolove, “We look for mutual agreement and communication between the student, parents, and their teachers”.
She declined from answering how many any students were denied from switching out, but does admit that a few students have had communication problems and were not able to switch into another class of their choosing without any obstacles.
“I would not wish for anyone else to have the experience that I had of doing work for a class that wasn’t going to stick with, and falling behind in a class that I wish to take” said Atraoui, “I am not sure how they are going to do it, but I do believe that the policy needs to be changed”.