It’s important to remove the honors block to give students freedom to choose their classes based on their interests.

Flexibility is key to meeting every student’s needs and giving every student the means to succeed. Allowing students to choose their classes starting freshman year could provide the stepping stone to a successful track.

Freshman year can be frightening on its own, without the added weight of having to choose all honors or nothing. Grouping students together in the “honors” and “non-honors” blocks further divides students and pressures them to excel in classes they may not have otherwise chosen to take, or that they may struggle in.

The current all-or-nothing policy discourages students from signing up for honors and pushing themselves to excel because they may feel like they can’t perform in all of the high-level classes.

The block schedule perpetuates an achievement gap between students who choose to take higher-level classes and those who don’t.

The block schedule restricts accessibility, as it places those who take all honors classes on the competitive end of the spectrum and those who don’t take honors completely at the other end. This furthers the achievement gap in that students are not given the chance to take one or two honors classes to test out whether they fit well in an upper-level class.

According to ninth grade counselor Barb Nelson, with the divide of honors and support blocks, the honors block became predominantly white and the support and non-honors blocks predominantly consisted of students of color.

What a student chooses to take freshman year could set their track in high school in a completely different direction. Pressure should not be put on students to take classes they aren’t ready for yet. The freedom to choose classes freshman year based on a student’s strengths and interests is important in fostering personal growth and success during a student’s high school career.

Though intentions behind the absolvement of the honors block may be thoughtful, this registration change will only hinder students wanting to take fast-paced, higher-level courses.

The dismantling of the honors block will create dysfunctionality, as students who learn at different paces with different commitment to studies will end up in classes together.

The setup of honors classes in previous years reinforced strong decision-making, as students would sign up for three classes at the same time. Students put consideration into which block they would sign up for, ensuring a well-contemplated decision.

The honors block provided an accelerated group of classes for students up to the challenge, while the non-honors block allowed students wanting to move through the material at a standard pace to learn in classes where they would not fall behind. Both blocks allowed students to independently challenge themselves. In either block, students were allowed to stay at the same level as the classmates in the same block.

Teacher communication inside each block allowed teachers to make sure they weren’t all giving tests on the same day, which greatly reduced stress on students. Teachers facilitating the same block were also able to take a team approach to communicating with struggling students. The new system will hinder the ability to easily plan and communicate.

Block scheduling pushed students to succeed in all areas of study. Taking the honors block motivated students to improve upon their weaknesses if they struggled in a particular subject.

Block scheduling kept students from prioritizing one block class over another, because they were all the same level. This assisted students in college preparation because they had to focus on their classes equally, creating a strong foundation in each subject.

The block system benefitted students by putting them in an environment where they could learn at the level best for them.