Schools Are Failing Their Students

By Alexa Ritacco

February has arrived. School is most definitely in full swing and the work is starting to pile on. Most of my weeknights are spent tackling mounds of homework. While doing all this work, it really makes me wonder if it’s all worthwhile. I can’t help but ask the question of: when will I ever need to use this stuff in the future?
I’m not planning on being a science or math major so why should I have to take courses for upper math and sciences? The same question can be asked to someone planning on majoring in the math or science field. Why should they have to take upper level English or History courses? I’d rather have the option of taking more interesting courses that could actually benefit my future. I’m not saying to eliminate math and science completely from my schedule, but for math I could take a statistics or economics class and for science I could take a course on conserving the environment or something along those lines.
Senior Mariah Cody is planning on studying bio-medical engineering in college. She takes advantage of the numerous upper level math and science courses offered here at Oyster Bay. What’s missing? For her intended major it is essential to have public speaking skills along with the ability to produce case and lab write ups. Courses that teach those skills could be created and not only benefit future science majors, but it would fulfill any English requirements that are needed to graduate.
Fortunately, our High School does an excellent job of offering interesting courses that could possibly spark interests for majors, and give ideas for the future. In most schools the problem is that most schools don’t offer many courses that can be applied in real life.
High schools across America lack courses that help students to become better prepared for their future. The education system needs to become more interested in the students’ futures. If changes were to be made where students could take courses according to their interests it could be one of the most beneficial change to ever grace the educational world.