Non-mandatory classes rant

by Richard Wilk

Being a senior, and having two weeks off, I’ve had time to reflect upon my past years at this glorious institute of intermediate education. Sadly most of my memories have been squished under that dark mass that is…mandatory classes. These classes have not only ruined the best years of my life, but also caused them to be nothing but a cesspool of bitterness and pain. Now, I am not addressing the English and mathematics classes, for everyone needs to have these basic skills. The classes that I am talking about are the ones that students are forced to take, that have no practical applications other than in specialized areas that will probably never be applied by the students who are forced to take them.

Physical Education is perhaps the worst of all pointless classes. All students are forced to take this class, for no logical reason. The P.E. department claims that it is helping promote a healthy lifestyle that will last students forever. What this class actually does, is create a long lasting hatred of all physical activities, and even proceeds to destroy the self-confidence of all students concerned. Students are graded not on intelligence, or wit, but rather how quickly they can run laps on a field. When students fail to meet up to the expectations of the instructors they are punished with more laps or a poor grade. Judging people on the basis of physical prowess is wrong, unless the students in question have pre-determined that they wish to go into a field that requires raw physical strength. In a world where intelligence and creativity are the landmarks of success, this class does nothing to support either. People are either going to be healthy or they will not, being forced to take this class will not change how students will maintain themselves. Ultimately this class is punishment to the non physically inclined, and a free ‘A’ to those who are. Also, it is clear that PE is failing in its goals. There is still obesity in our nation despite all the years that PE has been around. Since it is clearly a failed experiment, it should be dropped, not promoted.

I’ve never had a problem with foreign languages, despite my having a very jingoistic attitude. All students who hope to go to college, which is almost everyone in El Segundo, are forced to take at least two years of a language. If students WANT to take these classes they should be offered, they should not be forced to take them. Many students never intend to speak French or Spanish languages, and moreover many students don’t care to ever speak them. Making them mandatory to achieve a higher education is like a punishment to those who wish to be ignorant of other cultures in the world. And ignorance of the customs of others is a quintessential American right.

Career explorations should not be mandatory, and I’ve found to it be quite worthless. Taken in the freshmen year, this class is intended to help show students possible career paths, how to make a job application, and other useful skills. What should be realized is that freshmen lack the ability to look two minutes into their future, much less five to ten years. It would make more sense to make this class a senior or junior leveled, but by that time most students should already have an idea of what they want to do with their lives, thus negating the purpose of career explorations.

Students who take classes out of choice normally tend to succeed, while those who are forced into taking classes against their will, tend to flounder. Most students understand the necessity of mathematics (to a point), history classes, and English. But for many students the classes mentioned above serve no purpose what so ever, so they tend to not do well in them. It is because of this that these classes only serve to hurt the students’ GPA as opposed to helping them succeed in the real world. When colleges look more harshly upon students doing poorly in these classes, I am forced to believe that these classes shouldn’t be mandatory.