Walpole High School’s graduation requirements are outdated with respect to ever-changing modern times. Years of study for many of the major subjects – like the Foreign Language and the Unified Arts – fall behind the standards set out by MassCore, a universal education guideline for Massachusetts high schools, and the pressures put upon students from the outside world. The current requirements are less than advantageous to students – it might even be a detriment. A lack of foreign language skills, financial savvy, cultural knowledge and self-sufficiency are all that is offered by the existing curriculum. In addition, not having Film, Journalism and TV classes count as a requirement for the Unified Arts limits students’ options outside of core subjects. As a result of these dated requirements, graduating seniors leave our school stunned and unprepared for the highly-competitive, globalized and fast-paced world we live in today.
The graduation requirements are plagued with problems, especially when students venture out into the world unprepared for modern challenges. According to the Walpole High School Student-Parent handbook, all incoming freshman are required to take four years of English, three years of Math, three years of the Sciences, three years of Social Studies, one semester of Health, one year of Foreign Language and a shared year for both the Unified Arts. Where are the problems? Well, can you really acquire proficient knowledge of a language in only a year? Can you really expect to have any knowledge of computer, business of family-related topics, never mind a basis in cultural subjects like the Arts, when the two – the Unified and Fine Arts – are coupled together? Can you really be void of all these elementary tools and still be primed for the well-connected, high-paced world outside of the classroom?
Thus, MassCore suggests a more rigorous program that is designed to “[align] high school coursework with college and workforce expectations.’ The Massachusetts Department of Education compiled this curriculum. In it, foreign language expectations are lengthened to two years. Yet, what is more important is the fact that it is the same language for those two years. This core suggests that what we would call the “Unified Arts” are recommended to high school students for basically all four years of their high school career.
As you may be quick to agree with what MassCore puts forth for its students, I, however, am hesitant to do so. There are many aspects of this program that are extremely appealing, but they might not pertain specifically to WHS students and their situation – this program of study is just merely a guideline, not a mandate. I do agree that two years of the same foreign language is hugely beneficial, seeing as most colleges today recommend or require at least two years – sometimes even three. Yet, students do not necessarily profit taking Unified Arts courses throughout their years in high school. It should, however, be recommended that students continue to take these kinds of courses beyond a required year of study.
Furthermore, the inclusion of Journalism, TV Production and Film Classes as class choices is arbitrary as they do not fufill any graduation requirements. Since the Unified Arts Department serves as a safe haven for students to take courses not otherwise offered by the core curricular subjects, adding the Journalism, TV and Film classes to the number of courses that satisfy the graduation requirement for the Unified Arts is only beneficial to students. With that said, these classes should not be wholly emancipated from the English Department. Counting toward the Unified Art requirement, these courses will still be under the confines of the English Department itself. This situation of classes controlled by the English Department but included in the Unified Arts’ requisites for graduation would give students a broader and freer base on which to choose the classes that they wish to take.
Our school’s graduation requirements need work. Yet, the problems within the curriculum are minor at best. What WHS’s program of study needs is a well rounded choice of courses along with rigorous requirements to help students become – as MassCore states – “college and career ready.” Once some changes are implemented within the existing program, students will be better suited to deal with the daunting task of facing the world outside of the classroom.
