Once again, the rules for the Senior Experience project have changed, this time affecting the class of 2013.
In recent years, the Senior Experience program has sought to provide an unparalleled, “real life” experience for the graduating seniors in hopes of sparking a new interest, furthering an old one, or simply exposing students to the job scene.
Administrators have made a couple of changes to the program this year. Firstly, those enrolled in Advanced Placement classes are no longer excused after exams in May in order to complete their hour requirements. To compensate, the hour requirement has been lowered from 60 to 45.
The administration made these changes after consulting neither the students involved in the program nor the teachers who often serve as mentors, even though it affects both parties. These changes will make pursuing memorable and positive learning experiences in the form of internships much more difficult for AP students. Those interested in shadowing a doctor, learning about design in New York City, or helping at a newspaper may have to select more mundane projects – which may be far less enriching.
Additionally, it will be difficult for AP classes to make good use of the several weeks of class time that these changes will add. While the prospect of showing movies until graduation may excite many students, it is ultimately a waste of both teachers’ and students’ time.
Many students who challenge themselves with numerous AP classes are also involved in school-based extracurricular activities. Students who previously would have used their time to participate in extracurricular activities must now use it to complete the required hours that they cannot fulfill during the day. There are only so many hours in a day, and even with the smaller requirement it will be extremely difficult for many students to juggle extracurriculars and Senior Experience while attending school for seven hours a day.
After examining the new standards of Senior Experience, The Schreiber Times feels that administrators must make a compromise. Students should either stay in AP classes after the exams, or be released from classes to have their “senior experiences.”
Although, in an ideal world, students could both seize the opportunity to have a unique internship and spend valuable time in the classroom after AP exams, The Schreiber Times knows that this is simply not reasonable. Administrators, please reconsider this policy change, and make a more definitive stance on whether you want students to pursue internships or remain in class. They cannot do both.