Many MHS students take traditional electives, like music and theatre, but may not be aware of electives that have lower student enrollment. Since students are often unaware of the material taught in lesser-known electives, students might view them as less valuable than traditional, well-known classes. The Union interviewed students and teachers from unconventional elective classes: ancient history, oral composition, creative writing, Facing History, and computer science principles.
In a Zoom interview, ancient history teacher Paul Harrison said the curriculum covers ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It teaches students about the foundational culture of the Western world—that is, the basis for modern institutions and systems like American democracy.
“What I like about history is it helps explain who we are, where we came from, and why we think the way we think and why we believe the things we believe in,” Harrison said. “If you look at our whole educational system, it’s all based on this classical education… A lot of science is created by the Greeks, so you can look at how much history is present in the classes you take, like biology. All these word origins go back to classical Greece and Rome… It’s a valuable class, and it allows you to understand how this ancient culture influenced our own culture, architecture, drama, comedy, philosophy.”
Additionally, Harrison advocated for social science electives because they give students a broader perspective of the world, he said. They also teach you critical thinking and analysis skills, he added. Greek philosophers tell people to question what they believe, and Harrison said he finds their reasoning to be particularly important now. Too many people do not question details from social media or the news, which leads to the circulation of misinformation, he added.
“We are so tech-heavy, and we’re in Silicon Valley,” Harrison said. “I think we’ve lost out on the humanities, that other aspect of us. We’re not automatons; we’re not androids. We have a human element.”
In an email interview, oral composition teacher Annie Shine described the class as a speech class in which students learn how to structure, cite, deliver, and create visuals for presentations. One unique feature of the class is students are allowed to give input on things such as grading rubrics, Shine wrote. For instance, the grading rubric is based on students’ experiences with presentations and their opinions of what determines the quality of a speech, she added.
Shine wrote although oral composition should not be at the top of anyone’s list of priorities, she does think the class is beneficial. “Oral Comp can seem like a silly class because, since students have control over most speech topics, we can get a lot of speeches on memes or pop culture or non-academic subjects,” Shine said. “However, what we’re really practicing at all times are speech structure, delivery, visual aid creation, and most importantly, confidence. … There’s a definite formula to creating a decent presentation, so once the kids figure that out, it can definitely make their future assignments much less stressful.”
Furthermore, Shine expressed her support of elective humanities classes in general. Students seem interested in a more inclusive curriculum, and humanities classes would help accomplish that and provide an alternative to traditional or stressful advanced classes, Shine said.
“Because we have so few electives, [oral composition] might be replaced by a new elective offering [next year],” Shine said. “However, I hope the class will be maintained because I think it has the potential to help a lot of students deal with their fear of public speaking.”
Another elective class is creative writing, which senior Kate Talaia took last semester. She said first, she analyzed poetry and learned about its elements, and then she wrote her own poetry. She also studied short stories and their elements, such as setting and characterization, which helped her write an original short story for the class.
“It’s very important to have this class, especially if people are into creative writing,” Talaia said in a Zoom interview. “Creative writing is a lot different in the sense that you get to write whatever you want, and it’s a lot more fun. If you really want to explore that kind of freedom, and you don’t want all the work of a regular English class, it’s definitely a class I would recommend.”
Two other elective classes are Facing History and computer science principles. Junior Froilan Zarate took Facing History last semester and computer science principles in the spring of his sophomore year. Facing History explores racism and prejudice through covering incidents such as the Holocaust, according to the MHS course catalogue.
“When I took Facing History, it opened my eyes a bit more,” Zarate said in a Zoom interview. “So I came to learn more about World War II and the Jews and other ethnicities.”
According to Zarate, students in computer science principles use an application called Snap, which is similar to Scratch. Snap allows students to learn the basics of programming through dragging and dropping blocks, he said.
“[Computer Science Principles] would be helpful for students who don’t know anything about coding,” Zarate said. “I think they would enjoy it more than typing on the keyboard because … it’s a simplistic interface.”
