Yuslis Ramirez Roche ‘24
When a student says “I am taking this class because it is a requirement,” the tone and message sounds more of a student ‘needing’ to take that class rather than a student ‘wanting’ to take it which, I don't know about you but to me, it sounds forceful and distressful. While reading this article, keep in mind these questions: should some requirements be re-evaluated? What are the pros and cons of requirements? Do you lean closer to the approval of the current requirements or disapproval of the current requirements?
Like many other schools, before graduating everyone must complete the requirements their school obligates students to do. St. Mark’s requirements involve sports (all four years), academic classes (three years of math, two science labs, and US history), language classes (three years of one language), art courses (at least two semesters), and religion courses (two semesters). The reasoning behind requirements is for students to be exposed to trying new things and expanding their knowledge. No contradiction on the reason for requirements, however, I believe some requirements should be given as a student’s optional such as religion and art courses. As it may be assumed, requirements have its negative and positive aspects, let’s go over them and then by the end, you may or may not come to a conclusion of whether requirements should be re-adjusted or left as it is now.
Starting with the unfavorable side of requirements, based on responses from some St. Marks students, the average rate of how beneficial requirements are is 7.1 out of 10 which is fairly nice. However, as some of the responses stated, requirements for many students is still a dreadful and unpleasant experience. When students take a required class and do not find it pleasing or amusing, then it takes away the fun out of their learning, and limits a student's independence of learning what they are interested in learning. Take for example a current St. Mark fourth former who made an excellent point of making requirements “more customizable” like having students take “4 electives of [their] choice” and/or doing an “independent study of [their] choice” for your junior or senior year (anonymous fourth former). Some students already have an interest in certain areas, while others do not. However, those who have an interest should be given the opportunity to go after their interest and invest their time and energy on learning and growing on it. Having students do requirements they do not wish or find meaning in learning about, only restricts them from finding their inspiration and learning opportunities.
In addition to limiting a student’s learning experience, I believe that requirements also push students to want to only “pass” and not necessarily want to “learn” from the requirement course. According to another current St. Mark fourth former, some requirements such as religion are courses that she is indifferent and apathetic about, and even though it brings lots of advantages, it is a course she is not particularly interested in. Sometimes, students do not find a requirement enjoyable, so they lose interest and they are left with the feeling of only finishing the requirement and getting over with it rather than being fully devoted to learning.
The fourth former continued and suggested that some requirements such as religion and art should be a pass or fail class. To many, this plan for some requirements may be an option to encourage students to ‘want’ to learn. In general, I also believe that some requirements should be optional or a ‘pass or fail’ class considering some students find requirements pococurante.
On the other hand, requirements also have its conveniences as well. As mentioned before, the purpose of requirements is to encourage students to try and learn new things. Most of the students interviewed agreed that requirements have taught them personal and educational things. For instance, a fourth former who is taking World History and JCI (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) learned that religion and history has similarity in stories and dates, and she has made many connections between both which helped her a lot with understanding World History.
Furthermore, I think that requirements introduce students to courses and activities that may inspire them to continue to pursue and benefit those who have a desire to continue studying it. For instance, a third former, who is taking geometry has aspired to work in the STEM field, if the three years of math were not a requirement and she were not required to Geometry, then would she ever have the aspiration of being an engineer or exposed to Geometry? Truthfully, I may never know, but what I do know is that it proves that requirements can have a positive impact on students.
Nonetheless, requirements are a student’s obligation that students must do, but what are your thoughts on requirements? Do you believe that requirements should be re-evaluated? Should some requirements be optional or an option student-based? Are you na or ya for requirements?
