In the spring of eighth grade, incoming Aragon students find themselves looking through the complete list of classes for the first time. Over the next four years, they will often face the difficult decision of how to best fulfill Career Technical Education, Visual and Performing Arts and elective requirements, and what level classes to take. These early decisions may put students on a track that impacts them throughout high school.
For freshman Gwen Johnson, choosing which math and English classes to take wasn’t an exclusively individual decision.
“My parents [have] always indirectly influenced me,” Johnson said. “And it’s the same with a lot of people because parents want what’s best for their kids, but then sometimes, they can’t see what their kids want.”
As students become adjusted to their classes, they often begin to decide for themselves which tracks will best suit their academic needs.
“The kids [in my Advanced Standing English and Compressed Math 1 classes] really want to learn and they care about school a lot more,” said freshman Max Mendell. “It’s nice to be in an environment where kids participate.”
The paths students take aren’t always binary and can fluctuate with individual preferences. Junior Annie Saban is taking three Advanced Placement classes including A.P. English Language while she continues to take College Preparatory history as she has since sophomore year.
“Personally, I’ve never been that interested in history and never wanted to pursue history,” Saban said. “But for English, it’s a more useful skill because you can use it in almost any kind of career path you choose.”
Some students switch tracks between school years or even transfer classes as the year progresses to better explore Aragon’s options.
“Students’ skills change over the years, so sometimes the student gets stronger and then they want to try the A.P. class,” said AS World History and CP US History teacher Jonathan Felder. “Other times their interests might change … so they [would] want to focus their attention on that.”
Having many diverse tracks to choose from can be beneficial.
“The reason we created the [math] pathways was to offer a more equitable curriculum where students who couldn’t take an accelerated class over the summer … could do it in school,” said Algebra 2 and Compressed Math 1 teacher Rafael Montelongo. “I like that every student can take a class that fits into [their] learning style.”
The social studies department eliminated tracks in freshman year classes with a single Ethnic Studies course, required for the entire grade. In regards to sophomore year courses, some would like to revisit the question for the remaining three AS courses.
“I don’t know if the whole department has discussed this in more detail recently, but to some degree, it’s still an open question,” Felder said. “We’ve had AS and CP for a while and the most obvious benefit of it is you can get two different speeds of the class … On the other hand, if we had everyone mixed together, then maybe it might be better for the school community.”
History, English and math are prime examples of how various tracks appear at different stages in a student’s life. Depending on their personal experiences, students may feel more or less inclined to continue on a similar track as they get older.
“The fact that there is an advanced option for a lot of courses may make students feel pressured to take all the advanced classes,” Saban said. “Usually, the advanced classes tend to be a lot more work, so … [students] overwork themselves and burn out.”
“The fact that there is an advanced option for a lot of courses may make students feel pressured”
Nevertheless, students ultimately have the ability to personalize their track throughout high school and receive the crucial help they need.
“I think we as a [math] department want to keep the options open for the students to try [out different tracks],” Montelongo said. “Since I teach the first part of the Compressed path, there [are] some students who ended up switching classes … We want to [help] figure out what is the best option for them.”
Whether academic tracks are the most advantageous in meeting the needs of every student is a multifaceted question. As Aragon continues to offer an ever-increasing amount of classes, students create unique pathways to have their desired educational experiences.
