Is Senior English Becoming Obsolete?

January 26, 2016

Day 213 as an Oklahoma Teacher

    Is senior English becoming obsolete? My answer is yes for a particular group of students at my school. Most of the students who take concurrent enrollment are the AP students who already have that motivation to succeed. The senior class has 118 students; thirty students are taking classes at Cameron University. The number of students attending college will increase as we increase the standards for each level. When I began teaching 24 years ago, the thought of students going to college during high school would have been a shocking idea. With students writing high-level essays and reading challenging books, this idea is becoming a reality. Students are taught to apply the information, to cite from sources, and to conduct research. With the influx of higher demands, some students are capable of advancing at a quicker pace through school. Students have many options: take Comp I and Comp II college classes, pass the CLEP test, take summer classes, or take online classes. Before they graduate from high school, students have the chance to earn a lot of college hours.

    In my opinion, senior English and even high school curriculum needs to be updated and reinvented. I'm tired of seeing the same ideas being taught from 25 years ago. College classes, job training, writing/reading across the curriculum, independent learning, and partnering with businesses should be included in schools. If students have excellent teachers in the lower grades, then they will be prepared to make it in college. The new ELA standards for Oklahoma also provides evidence on how students can get through high school at a quicker pace. The path is there; we just have to be ready to take a risk.