Credits and its Effect

Credits+and+its+Effect

With the 3rd and final trimester rearing its ugly face like Koh, the Face Stealer, there also comes another thing, class registration.

On the 24th and 31st of January, we all had the glorious pleasure of looking into and registering for our classes for the 2023-2024 school year, and figuring out what classes we need to get those twenty-four credits to graduate is… frustrating to say the least. Being pressured to basically pick your future in the span of about an hour is a very stressful decision, especially if you’re desperate for credits, like me.

I’m just here to talk about how the high school credit system can have its advantages and disadvantages, about how it can benefit the students, and how it can also harm them as well.

  1. It can be beneficial to become a well rounded student, especially for those who haven’t decided what they will study for yet. It can also allow the student to find and choose classes that may interest them in the future.
  2. On the contrary, it could also overwhelm the student because of the amount of classes they may have to take, which can be very hard for a student to do all at once, and that’s not including any responsibilities they might have outside of school.
  3. Student schedules are more flexible, allowing for the student to learn what they want to at their own pace, and can even choose to have an open hour, if their counselors allow them to.
  4. This also brings the problem that we only have four years to complete all our graduation requirements, along with the fact that he also have to begin planning for life after high school. I know that “It’s so far away” and “I can think about this later” but we all know that it’s closer than we think.
  5. If students have multiple classes, they may find it hard to quickly adjust from one class to another. It is hard to, for example, go to a fitness class, then go to a history class, all sweaty and tired, take a seat for an hour, and learn about war crimes armies committed.

I asked two students on their opinion of the matter and one of them said, “I have no problems with it. It’s fine, but I feel like a lot more can be done.”

The other thought about the question for a few seconds and replied, “I don’t really know… At least we have a minimum to do for when we graduate.”

What I’m trying to say is that the high school credit system is a big double-edged sword for all who end up with a pencil, filling out squares and writing circles, and that’s the sad part. Just that three months of our lives is decided simply by making a few lines, and we need more freedom to do what we choose. But with the expectation to do everything a certain way, it kind of ruins what little creativity we have left.