Editorial- draft 1

An honors class system is usually a beneficial program, but it often times has many issues within it. Many things about it aren’t clear and sometimes what teachers tell you aren’t necessarily true. Teachers will tell you that "AP/Honors courses are offered across the curriculum to meet the special needs of high-performing students interested in testing and extending their personal and intellectual limits in the classroom". Now, this is a good thing to do this in the classroom; however it is not always the most beneficial to a student trying to get into a specific college.

Teachers start putting these things into kids’ minds early, even in middle school. They highly encourage immediate enrollment in as many honors classes freshman year of high school to add rigor to their classes. Joan Cullen, a middle school teacher, says that “rigor of schedule is a big factor in college’s decision of your acceptance into their college”. It may be a factor, but it is definitely not one of the biggest. If anything it is minor and maybe unnoticed.

Here is what a freshman-to-be needs to hear: First of all, do not take Honors Government/Honors English freshman year. It will not give you college credit and it will only threaten to hurt your GPA. “Not taking these classes was the best decision I have ever made”, says successful senior Ryan Howley. So, what students should do is start off in honors math. This means, instead of taking Algebra I freshman year as many do, start with Geometry so that you can be as advanced into math as you can. Knowing more math subjects sooner will significantly help your ACT score.

Overall, try to get as many AP classes into your pocket as you can without jeopardizing your GPA before junior year when grades matter the most. Because here’s the issue: This year, many hard-working, competent, and smart honors-tracked students applied for the U of M and got waitlisted because they compromised their GPA for harder classes. While students who took no honors classes got accepted because their GPA is high. “This isn’t fair, but it’s just how things work”, says waitlisted honors senior Kelsey Reger. Unfortunately, many students don’t realize this until they are reading their letter from their desired college saying they’ve been waitlisted or denied. This makes students wonder, “Why did I put all that effort into honors classes when it didn’t even matter?” It really only hindered college acceptance.

Talking with my father, I heard his side of the issue. He says, “Grades should and do not matter. It’s what you learn from your classes which help you in the long run”. I won’t lie and say this isn’t true, because it is. However, it’s not enough. Colleges aren’t going to look at your application and say “well, they seem to have learned a lot in high school, so it doesn’t matter if they don’t have an amazing GPA, we’ll just accept them”. It’s all based on the combination of your GPA and ACT score.

Over the past four years in high school, Many have decided that the only way that AP/honors classes benefit a student is that it can save them a lot of money if they pass the AP test and can use it as college credit. So incoming freshmen should know these facts and choose classes wisely.