EDITOR: The Morgan Hill School District board and administration
should revisit the new graduation requirement requiring a fourth
year of social studies.
EDITOR:
The Morgan Hill School District board and administration should revisit the new graduation requirement requiring a fourth year of social studies. Unknown to board members when this issue came up, there was manuvering at the high school to discourage any presentations to the contrary because of the assurance that the recommendation going forward to the board was three years from the secondary steering committe as well as the administration.
When Mack Haines confronted Live Oak Principal Nancy Sergistad as to why the administration was recommending four years of social studies when the high school staff was nearly unanimously against it, the social studies task force did not endorse it and the Secondary Steering Committee was against it, he was told: “the administration is not recommending four years, the packet has a typo, everyone is recommending three years.”
After viewing the video tape of that meeting, it is clear that Assistant Superintendent Claudette Beatty recommends four years on behalf of the administration, even stating a case (not much of a typo). And of course, Superintendent Caroline McKennan goes on the record recommending four years. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Beatty implies and misrepresents the Secondary Steering Committee’s recommendation as being four years when it was not.
As if the process issues were not enough reason to revisit this issue, the impact on the curriculum is also far reaching. We now have an extra year of English (supported by the staff and committees), an extra year of social studies, and an applied art requirement that have been added to the graduation requirements.
As a science teacher, I am very concerned about the impact on the other elective offerings the board and administration chose not to favor with a requirement. Electives in the science department include Chemistry, AP Chemistry, Physics, AP Physics, AP Biology, Geology, Anatomy and Physiology, Environmental Science, AP Environmental Science not to mention Agriculture courses. The math department will be similarly impacted with less enrollment in Calculus, Math Analysis, Trig/Pre-calculus and other electives.
This is a clear case of wanting to raise the bar, but in fact, probably doing just the opposite. It is not possible to increase the requirements in one department without cutting the opportunities in others. Although I, too, believe that world events place a premium on Social Science education, they have three years already. Perhaps the business department should request requirements due to a need to spur the economy, or the science and math departments should increase requirements due to the loss of engineering jobs offshore. Of course college bound students need foreign language.
If the board believes that all of our students are really college bound as indicated by the move toward heterogeneous grouping, then perhaps three years of foreign language should be added to our graduation requirements. “That other 50 credits” disappears pretty fast for the serious student. And that doesn’t even consider band, drama or art.
The social studies requirement was a well-intended move that has so many bad effects that it needs to be reconsidered. It has taken an unacceptable bite out of student choice and our ability to “personalize.” their educational experience. And of course, the board really should demand more of its administrative staff when they make questionable recommendations and inaccurate reports.
Glen Webb,
Live Oak High School
Editor’s note: The requirement for a fourth year of social studies is scheduled to return to the school board at the Jan. 12 meeting.
