By Delaney Whittet
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa English Department’s decision to discontinue its freshman Advanced English classes for next year is justified because the class has become an unnecessary alternative to College Preparatory classes; therefore, students will not be negatively affected by the change.
The elimination of this class means Costa will offer only one level of English for students during their first year of high school.
Advanced English for freshmen has been available for four years, but according to English Department co-chair Pamela Jenning, it was not as valuable as the department expected it to be. Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale explained that freshman “Advanced English” was merely a title, and material in both the CP and Advanced levels were extremely rigorous for students.
According to Dale, the two levels of freshman English covered extremely similar material. Therefore, having separate classes is unnecessary. Dale also believes that the discontinuation of this class will not have any adverse effect on students. It may actually help students adjust to high school by allowing them to socialize and work with a wider range of students.
Ending freshman Advanced English will be more beneficial for ninth graders because, according to Jenning, it is better to keep freshmen, even those with different skill levels, in the same classes so that they can establish the same solid foundation before moving into higher level classes. This basis includes learning grammar and writing skills, as well as exploring a broad variety of western literature, all at a manageable pace. Keeping all freshmen in CP English allows for positive development and still produces successful honors and Advanced Placement students.
This change enables students to develop relationships and learn to work with people of different skill levels. It may also lessen the stress of students who feel the need to take on challenging classes that they are not yet prepared for in order to appear competitive on college applications.
Despite talk that sophomore Accelerated English will be cancelled as well, Costa has already approved the class for the 2014-15 school year. Jenning stated that sophomore Accelerated English has been successful and has become popular enough to create five sections next year instead of four. These higher-level English classes for students other than freshmen are an important part of Costa’s course offerings, allowing students to further pursue their love of English with a more challenging curriculum.
According to Jenning, students’ writing skills develop at different times in their high school career. Fortunately, the English Department recognizes this and allows students to apply to the honors program each year.
The English Department’s accelerated and honors classes are more in-depth and fast-paced than their CP equivalents. While freshman Advanced English was unnecessary, it is important that they maintain other honors English classes.
Because of this cancellation, students can focus on improving their writing skills alongside their peers freshman year before pursuing more challenging classes, such as honors English junior year and AP English senior year.
The discontinuation of freshman Advanced English is a positive change as it will allow all ninth graders to be prepared for the rest of high school English with the same foundation and without the stress and competition of having different class levels.
Leave a Reply