Sacrificing Electives… Worth the Cost? PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by Théa Kindschuh   
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Arriving back at school, we’re all met with the student-choked hallways and lack of parking spaces. But this year it seems like classes are stifling too- 42 students in Forensic Science? 45 in World Civilizations? 56 in Tucker’s notorious Calculus class? Mr. Don Gavitte, Social Studies teacher at Grant, explains the answer behind this ongoing situation. Grant has always been a place where students sign up for classes that challenge and intrigue, classes like Philosophy, AP European History and PSU World Civilizations, from the social studies department. “We’ve never had enough sections of Philosophy and AP Psychology, and I’ve worked here ten years.” Gavitte says as we make our way to the copy room. “We’ve had some classes that have worked, classes that have given students opportunities. But we lost four and a half teachers this year.” As a result, these heavily sought-after classes are becoming even scarcer, and that means more than just crowded classes. Already lots of schedules aren’t full because there simply aren’t enough classes- and this isn’t anything new. Could our other electives be heading down a similar path to Woodshop, Computer Aided Drafting, Autoshop, and Home Economics? Getting enough student interest in electives is something Gavitte says has never been a problem at Grant. “We just can’t offer it. We are seen as NE Portland’s best option due to our electives, teachers and challenging courses.” So how will we be seen without those attributes? It isn’t one person’s fault when an elective gets cut or becomes more compact. When a teacher is hired, they are assigned a department, not specific classes. This means teachers like Gavitte have to work hard to create classes like PSU World Civilizations. It also means that there is no guarantee those classes will be there year to year. The Social Studies department went from 45 to 42 classes this year, with only eight and a half teachers for the whole department. Gavitte believes “we could easily hire two more teachers full-time and give them full schedules. The school could probably use five to seven people.” With a tight budget, not enough teachers and too many students, the next question is simple, yet tragic-- Which classes get cut? “Most teachers and administrators would loathe to make that decision. That’s not going to be popular with the community either.” Last year, Mr. Lickey taught the two sections of AP Euro that were offered. This year he’s had to take on AP US History and Constitution Team and nothing else. But Gavitte is mostly just teaching AP US, so where did all the electives go? This year, Social Studies is already looking thin with only two sections of Philosophy, two AP European History, two AP Psychology and one World Civilizations. Being a Social Studies prerequisite, US History gets priority over the electives. “When you’re doling out the yearly classes the departments come together and have to decide what’s good for the department-- you’ve got to compromise … You wonder how long [electives] are going to be affected if you keep getting tighter and tighter and tighter. Elective classes are what keep students here; for many the elective is the anchor of their day. If we’re just teaching required classes, and that’s all we have to offer, how attractive is Grant as a school? It makes sense for freshman classes to be small, they need the extra attention. But how big can an AP class get before it gets stupid?” Gavitte admits that we choose to have bigger class sizes, but we do so for a perfectly valid reason-- so that we can have those electives we love. The few in-demand classes left are going to be huge. “Is this it? Is this the thinnest classes can get before it’s a joke?” “Everything is precarious.” Gavitte observes. “It always is. When they first establish a budget, it’s usually agreed that its not enough. Then we have difficulty maintaining that budget.” The economy is less than fantastic, and everything that the country is complaining about affects schools directly. “Health insurance costs rise, so it costs more to insure teachers and the budget gets thin. If fuel is expensive, books and paper are expensive. The buildings are old so it costs more to maintain them” Students are willing to struggle without a textbook, they are willing to get to class early and sit on desks or even the floor. They are willing to go through the hardships necessary to participate in these classes. That should be evidence enough to show us they find these classes important, but many people see the school problem as they see the health care one: If they have it and it works for them, they’re not going to complain, even if the system is bad. Same in schools. “We need collectivity. It needs to be bigger than the individual circumstances.” Youth don’t have the vote, so those experiencing the issue cannot make their voices heard easily. We can complain as much as we want, but Gavitte reminds us that the problem is “Bigger than the students, bigger than the teachers, bigger than the administration, even the Grant community … If we want to encourage students’ learning, this is an important thing to make a priority. It’s going to require a bigger effort than we really ever have had. As a teacher, of course I really believe that should happen. But it has to go beyond that. Those who don’t have a direct and immediate investment in schools-those without kids in schools-have to make that decision as well.” “Social Security, MedicAid-- those things are untouchable. No one wants to throw Grandma out on the street. We need that same feeling towards schools.” Gavitte argues. “Take care of grandma, take care of the kids. Everyone else can make do. That’s the kind of effort we’re talking about.” And how can we make that effort happen? Keep on slugging through. Jump through hoops to keep those classes we love. Make sure everyone knows the importance of education. Write our legislators, make yourself heard. We need that effort, or else World Civ’s going to go the way of Woodshop. Philosophy’s just going to get bigger and bigger. And we all know we don’t want that.
 
< Prev   Next >