Schreiber High School has many elective options for students. Students can take electives ranging from topics in the social sciences, such as Sociology, to topics in math and science, such as AP Computer Science.  However, there are no English courses offered as electives to supplement the required students take each semester. 

While there are a variety of English classes offered at Schreiber, they are offered as a core class and not as an elective to supplement the already-required course component.  As part of the  English requirement, a student  must take freshman English in ninth grade, and sophomore English in tenth grade.  As juniors and seniors, students are allowed to choose what English class they would like to take.  However, while you are able to choose which English class to take, these are still required classes for graduation, not additional electives. 

Schreiber should offer English courses as electives, too, not only as options for your English class requirement.  There should be more opportunities for classes for students who enjoy English and writing. 

“At Schreiber, I think English has basically turned into something that is viewed as a required core subject, and if you are more interested in English, kids in your class that are just taking it for credit could ruin it.  In all the other core subjects, there are electives that only people who are interested take, but there are no such opportunities for English,” said sophomore Averie Masia.

Some existing English classes could be electives as well as required English class options, such as Creative Writing and Persuasive Writing.  Additionally, for people that enjoy and excel at English and are taking an AP English course, could take a second English class at the same time.

Many other subjects offer supplementary electives that students can take in addition to their core class.  However, this is not the case for English classes. 

“It’s frustrating that we can take social studies electives, but for the people that are more English-oriented, there aren’t any electives available,” said sophomore Makena Romero.

Similarly, a student can take their required STEM classes, as well as an elective such as AP Statistics or AP Physics C, assuming that they have the right prerequisites.

So, why is it that all of these different fields have elective options, allowing a student to take more than one social studies course, more than one science course, more than one math course, and yet you can only take either one English course, or two semester-long English courses?  It does not make sense that you can’t pursue as many classes in English when compared to other subjects.

“English holds just as much importance as any other subject, and its availability of electives should reflect that.  Students should be given the opportunity to expand their love for English just the same as they could in science, math, or social studies.  By granting kids English electives, a whole new world is opened up for anyone who has passion and love for the subject,” said senior Lara Ozcayir. 

The English classes that Schreiber offers, such as Creative Writing, Journalism, Screenwriting, Persuasive Writing, and more, should be offered as electives too, in the same way that a student can take AP Physics and also take AP Bio (taking up one of their elective slots), at the same time. 

Schreiber should offer English electives, so that students who really enjoy the subject can take more than one English class at once.  This would give those students the opportunity to take more classes in the subject that they are passionate about, and it does not make sense that these additional elective options are offered for other core subjects, and not for English.