Students Unhappy With Academic Difficulty of History Classes

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One AP US History teacher, Joseph Snedeker, lectures his class after a weekend full of chapter note-taking. Some students disagree with this workload and often feel they need to level down to regular US History in order to succeed.

With the recent addition of classes that have a difficulty level easier than AP but harder than regular, there are juniors who feel a class in between AP US history and Regular US would be a better option for them.

The past year, SJHHS has created a Spanish 4 class, and English 4 class, which both serve as a middle ground for students who want to be challenged but are not ready or do not want to take an AP class. Because these classes were made, students have been questioning whether a class in between APUSH and Regular US History should be created.

After surveying juniors in both AP and regular on whether this new class would benefit them, their opinions seemed to be almost even.

Those who say yes, give a strong argument that they either feel overwhelmed with the AP class, or under-challenged with the regular class.

Students want a class where they will feel “challenged without the stress of AP and all its requirements,” says Ashley Hoffman, and student who dropped out of APUSH because of its difficulty.

Jessica Siu thinks a different class would be helpful for students who do not excel in history, but want a challenge, and believes this class would be a good balance between the two options. A student in AP, Neil Leach said that “APUSH should be slowed down, so the students can have more time to learn, understand, and comprehend,” which is what this new class would serve a   s.

On the other hand, a large portion of the students do not think this class would be necessary, and the possibility raises many questions. If it became an honors course with a 5 point scale, would most student take the easier option so they can have the grade bump without the difficulty?

Mr. Briggs, the head of the History department at SJHHS explains that there are pros, but also many issues that would have to be dealt with. One of his biggest worries is “streaming,” when “A students are with A students, B with B, and C with C,” taking away from the diversity of levels in each class. Even though all students being in a class being at the same level could take away role models, all those students would be at the best level for them, regardless of their grades.

With this new class, there will definitely be many students that take Honors over AP,  which also affects the school because having more AP students at the school essentially makes the school look better to the district.

This is an understandable issue, but letting students find a class that fits them is going help the school more than having a high count of students in AP classes.

Overall this is a decision left to the board and principal, but in my opinion it is impossible to fit all students into two boxes, and adding another option could really benefit many of these students either feeling under-challenged, or struggling and overwhelmed.