Manhattan Beach Middle School unfairly proposes to remove journalism program

By Michael Beeli

Staff Writer

Manhattan Beach Middle School may not offer a journalism class for middle-schoolers during the 2017-18 school year. Journalism classes are an essential part of a comprehensive educational experience at any institution of learning, and thus should be offered to any students who wish to enroll.

According to MBMS Principal John Jackson, school administration may have to remove the class from the master schedule due the year after next due to a lack of student enrollment. Jackson indicated that other students are signing up for other electives instead, causing the the school to focus more on those and less on Journalism.

According to MBMS Journalism Teacher Rachel Thomas, students who would normally enroll in Journalism are being pulled away by signing up to be Teacher Assistants and the STEM elective. It is important that students have freedom when choosing their electives; however, the Middle School should look to limiting the amount of TAs and STEM classes in order to preserve a more diversified curriculum at MBMS.

According to Jackson, the master schedule is student-driven, and since over 200 students applied to enroll in the STEM class, the administration may be forced to make sacrifices in order to open up more classes for STEM. The potential schedule change means that students that do wish to take Journalism may not be able to unless a certain quota of students enroll in the class. Master Schedules should be student-driven, but not to the point where the students should be prevented from taking a specialized class such as Journalism due to the demand of other students.

Thomas indicated that some teachers have been taking two or more TAs per period in recent years. Most Middle-School teachers should not need more than one TA each period in order to perform the tasks they need completed. Many students are most likely signing up to be TAs  simply in favor of of avoiding other classes and are not exploring the wide variety of electives offered at the school. MBMS should look to reasonably limit the number of TAs teachers should have and teachers should be more selective with their choices, with exceptions in special cases, in order to better expose students to the variety of unique electives offered.

According to Thomas, Journalism is an incredibly important course that teaches students invaluable skills for the future. Thomas claims in her class students develop important skills such as deadline responsibility, cooperation with other students, and demonstrative writing writing in addition to one-on-one instruction in language skills students do not have the opportunity for in their standard English classes. Journalism is one the few classes that allows students to simulate a student-driven responsibility relying on skill and ability to communicate and work together, and consequently is an invaluable class that needs to be offered to any students wishing to take it.

Thomas also indicated that part of the reason enrollment rate in MBMS journalism has dropped is a lack of promotion by teachers and administration at the school, especially in comparison to other electives. Instead of preemptively cutting the class from the schedule, employees at the school should better promote the class and its value as a learning experience to students in order to better balance student enrollment in electives.