Electives Cal High students truly deserve

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As this school year draws to a close, the school has been scrambling to create new, innovative elective classes that students would be interested in taking.

Some high schools already offer a wide variety of weird courses, such as  lumberjacking that teaches students how to properly cut down a tree. 

So how come we don’t have anything like that here?

“Our school’s electives are really boring,” said senior Danny Tornay.

He is one of many students that embody this call to action to introduce new electives the district can make a reality. 

“They need some exciting things for us to do, like learning to become a dentist,” Tornay stated. “We could learn to fill in cavities and pull teeth for any students who need it.”

The prospect of having hands-on, introductory classes in the medical field gives students the ability to practice teeth-pulling and open heart surgery before they can operate a car.

Another possible class could help students learn about plant life and biology in a hands-on elective, and not just for students to grow their own medicinal herbs.

“A medicinal horticulture class would be great,” said junior Kyle Bouchet. “We need some sort of agricultural program in our school.”

Of course, not all electives have to come from an educational, or even extracurricular standpoint. Some students want to watch their figure and have fun in school with P.E. electives.

“We should have a P.E. elective that’s all about jumping, like using pogo sticks and trampolines,” said sophomore Robby Klau. 

Creating alternative physical education electives would be a great way for students to stay active and obtain graduation credits in an entertaining way.

“It would add Fine Arts credits because the score is based on self-expression using jumping,” Klau added.

With the addition of new P.E. electives, it would be interesting to have a class for students to learn how to shred it like an ’80s Thrasher teen.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to skateboard but never had the proper motivation,” said junior Kaden Khweled.

“Homework could be practicing a certain skill or tricks,” Khweled said, “and you would have multiple projects each semester based around learning a skill to perform in front of your teacher.”

For those students who want to have a fun time consistently in a class and on the weekends, why not create an entire course on enjoying events such as concerts?

“A concert analysis class would be cool so students could attend concerts every weekend on field trips, then come back to analyze them,” said senior Maren Callaway. 

Other ideas for classes can include exploring abstract ideas and practices. 

For example, religion is a topic not often represented in a high school setting, so why not try and introduce it here?

Senior Drew Hahn suggests a religious studies class in order to foster his sense of spirituality.

While we’re exploring abstract ideas, new English-Language arts classes could be on the horizon that’s more exciting than reading books or writing essays. 

“I’d like to teach a class that explores literature and thematic elements through movies,” English and AVID teacher Alyssa Anderson said. “Students could learn about theme-based ideas by watching movies, front-loaded with supplemental books, articles and research.”

Schools can learn a lot from students and teachers with their wide array of elective suggestions.

Endless possibilities can be opened for classes to be made by students, for students.