Starting next fall, incoming freshmen will notice a major shift in their class schedules. Instead of taking the prior required Info Communication Literacy (ICL) class, all freshmen will be required to enroll in both AP (Advanced Placement) Human Geography and Personal Finance — a move that has sparked a mix of excitement and uncertainty amongst Park students and staff.
Personal Finance teacher Patrick Odom said that while both ICL and Personal Finance aim to prepare students for life beyond high school, they do so in different ways. He said the shift is not about removing valuable content but redirecting the focus to personal money management skills.
“ICL was created more as an introduction to the workforce, so things (like) how to send a business email, whereas Personal Finance focuses more on what it says on the tin (the class is straightforward) about how to manage your own money day in and day out,” Odom said. “They’re both a good foundation for future life and career skills but kind of have differences in focus.”
Current eighth grader Orion Scheid said he is feeling some apprehension about the curriculum change, especially when it comes to the AP Human Geography requirement.
“I’m nervous because I wanted to take advanced classes in other subjects and wanted history to be a safe class for me,” Scheid said. “So now I’m taking an Advanced Placement class I didn’t exactly wanna take, and it adds more stress for next year.”
Sophomore Laura Anderson said she could have handled the new AP history requirement if it had been in place during her freshman year. She said she believes the addition wouldn’t be as overwhelming for her — drawing from her own experience with the typical freshman workload.
“I think I would be able to balance a required AP class freshman year because the other classes I would have been taking aren’t as hard, and I would have more time to do homework for it,” Anderson said.
Odom said both Abigail Lugo — another Personal Finance teacher — and himself have been digging into other essential skills that are overlooked in traditional classes and hope to incorporate them in personal finance somehow.
“We’ve (Lugo and Odom) looked into adulting a little bit as a possible class, but then decided we could incorporate it into personal finance,” Odom said. “There’s a bunch of stuff in there that everybody would benefit from, and that’s why we thought it’s one everyone should start to take.”
Scheid said he questions whether requiring AP Human Geography for all freshmen is the right approach. While he said he sees value in encouraging students to challenge themselves, he said it’s more about the lack of choice and the potential impact it could have on students’ learning environments.
“While I think it is a good concept to have more students get a head start on taking more advanced classes, I still think we should be able to choose because for many, history isn’t their passion,” Scheid said. “Also, the whole point of advanced classes is for students who want to progress and learn faster, and so for students who are being pushed into it, it will just create an unhealthy learning space.”
