Courses cut due to low interest

In the light of recent graduation requirement changes and college preparation, there are many students opting out on taking certain classes.

Whether it’s due to taking college classes early, meeting the minimum requirements for a core class, internships or wanting to get out of school at 10:38, students are more likely to neglect these classes now than ever.

Due to these occurrences, more and more elective courses are at risk. Struggling to keep numbers up and meet their minimum requirements for enrolled students, there are beloved electives in jeopardy.

The first two classes being talked about are writing classes. Writing is the basis of the English language. If a person doesn’t care about their grammar or how they communicate with others, then there is a smaller chance of success in the real world.

Writing is everywhere from interviews and applications to research essays and emails for a career. The idea of knowing how to communicate to a specific audience is essential to today’s society.

The first of these writing classes being Journalism. The class bringing you The Prowler or On The Prowl monthly is losing potential journalists.

In Journalism, students write an article of their choosing for each edition of one of the two publications. Students are taught the ins and outs of AP style and how to appropriately report news. This is a class for anyone who enjoys current events and informing people on the world's happenings.

Another writing class in jeopardy is Creative Writing. In this class, you learn about character development, plot and storyline elements, continuity and story archetypes through the writing of short stories.

If you want a place to share your stories and enhance your writing skills, this is the class for you. However, this is not a class for people who write in a comic book writing style. This is for people who enjoy novel or short story writing styles.

Both Journalism and Creative Writing are classes that explore the ideas of grammar and communication. These are essential skills. Journalism explores this through informational, nonfiction writing and teaches you a new writing style and how to locate and decode objective information. Creative Writing explores these ideas through the writing of fictional literature.

These are a large array of courses that explore creativity and imagination. Each of these courses look at these ideas in a completely different perspective. No prior skills are required as they will be learned in class.

Drawing and Painting expands on the idea of fine art. Using graphite, pastel, acrylics, charcoal and water colors, you can make just about anything your heart desires.

2D Design puts art into the hands of technology. In this class, you enhance your composition skills in order to bring meaning to your pieces. Creating art in a new fashion, you may find a new passion.

In 3D Design, you bring back more traditional art routes while also bringing in a new perspective to the world of sculpting. You work with many materials including clay, paper, stone, wire and more. This class can bring your ideas to life.

Apollo is a two to three credit course exploring the ideas of Art, Social Studies and English and how they fit into your passions and interests. In the world of Apollo, even a bumble bee can be explored through a social studies perspective. You can’t draw? No problem here. You can count music, culinary, sculpting, photoshop or even collaging as your art piece. While you are not required to take all three credits, it is a good idea.

All of the Technology Education courses bring the ideas of architecture and mechanics to the classroom. Whether you’re interested in blueprints, engineering, prototyping or construction, you will find a place in these programs.

Last but not least are Central’s higher math courses. These include: Statistics, Trigonometry, Calculus and Math A&D. In the light of recent graduation requirement changes, these classes have been seeing a deficit in student enrollment numbers.

Having an extra math class or two on your transcript can’t hurt. Even if you don’t do too well, it’s good for colleges to see that you tried your best to succeed. Skipping a math during your senior year doesn’t always look great for you.

Any of these classes would be worth giving a shot. Maybe not all of them are for you, but it would be good for you to try something new. Give at least one of these classes a chance if you have a free block or two in your schedule next year. If you don’t, these classes will be dropped and no one will be able to experience them.

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