by Chloe Ho, staff writer
Mills’ AP science class requirements, upon a bit of investigation, are oddly more demanding than other high schools in the district.
The other high schools in the district that offer AP science courses have three different variants of science class requirements, which can be found on the science pages of all of their school websites:
The first variant qualifies for Hillsdale High, Aragon, and Burlingame, where only biology and chemistry are needed for the APs, with an exception for AP Physics where you need to have biology and either chemistry or physics.
The second, which is true for San Mateo, has the option of either biology or chemistry, with AP Physics only needing some mathematical qualifications.
Capuchino falls in a bit of a grey area, that being the third variant, with biology and/or chemistry being needed. Some of Capuchino’s APs require chemistry, in which students need to have already done biology. And, of course, their AP Physics requires physics.
But none of them require that biology, chemistry, and physics be completed in order to move onto higher courses, which follow SMUHSD’s graduation requirements in science which state that only a year of biological and physical science are needed.
So, why isn’t that the case with Mills?
An argument can be made that while Mills’ science requirements may be more intense than others, it better sets up students’ science foundation for the future. An AP class is designed to be challenging and rigorous, and having that extra prep may better prepare the student for the class rather than doing the minimum that the district requires. In addition, the majority of the world has students learn all three of those science subjects. It could be considered a disadvantage to not have any experience with physics until college.
Mr. Wang, a biology teacher at Mills, is an active supporter of this decision. He explained in an interview that a student who is planning on taking an AP science class is assumed to be interested in going into science. “If the science pathway is something you want to pursue, we want you to have a better chance of succeeding, and the best way to do that is to have a solid foundation in science before you graduate.” He elaborated a bit more on this before expressing so, explaining that “the reality is… when you go to college — and it doesn’t matter what you’re majoring in — they require that you take a full year of biology… chemistry… and physics… they’re designed to be challenging… and a ton of students end up just not making it…”
He explained a lot of strong, well-thought-out reasons for this requirement as well. But something that also stuck out was a reason regarding students who try and skip ahead in the science curriculum: “I’ve talked to… teachers at Aragon, and we have students who take chemistry over the summer but don’t learn anything, or they try to take physics over the summer or skip it… they end up having really big gaps in their scientific knowledge and aren’t well-positioned to do well in college… Physics is another way to slow down [students from entering AP too soon] … you have to learn problem-solving, be really good at data analysis, and you’re building a lot of skills you’ll need at AP level. So if you try to skip that and enter an AP lab… you’ll be totally lost on what to do.”
In addition, according to CSUN, there is an incredible number of reasons to take physics in high school. Some significant reasons that may jump out more than others include college admission value — “College recruiters tend to be favorably impressed by transcripts containing challenging classes like physics… Success in high school physics is considered a sign of academic maturity and ability. Some technically-oriented programs deny entrance to students who have not taken high school physics.”
Another would be general success in college, especially if pursuing a STEM-related major: “Studies indicate that high school physics helps significantly to reduce the failure rate in college-level physics. These studies suggest that students taking a high school physics course score, on average, about one letter grade higher in college physics than students with no high school physics background.” It may even benefit students still enrolled in high school! “Physics classes provide practice in algebra and geometry, the math topics most likely to occur on SAT tests… [but] to understand the concepts of physics students must use analogies. To work on physics problems, students must read and comprehend paragraphs packed with both useful and superfluous information. Physics, therefore, develops both math and verbal skills.”
This, however, can be seen as unfair to Mills students. It’s imposing more work onto them in comparison to other schools, and it restricts students from taking other classes that they would find more enjoyable or would be more motivated to work hard for. Mills promotes a message of equity, but this extra physics requirement could be going against that. Vice-principal Mr. Gomez provides excellent reasons why, who’s discussed this matter on numerous occasions with staff.
“I understand their rationale for that… but at the same time, it’s not inclusive of all students, in my opinion,” he began. He also started the conversation by explaining a work-around with the physics requirement: “It’s not a binding policy, where it’s all or nothing, and we are an open-enrollment district… [the requirement] should not prevent you from taking the course you want. There are waivers that exist that you can sign to get out of that.”
He also made it clear that this had been an issue that he had been pressing the science department on for a while now. “It’s something that myself and the counseling department… have dialogue with Mr. Wang about… it’s not aligned with other sites, and that’s one of the bigger concerns I have because if we have students coming from other schools, it puts them at a disadvantage.”
And as addressed before, the policy can place an extra layer of stress on students, who he says might already know what they want and see the physics requirement as a barrier to achieving that. “It’s the whole conversation of the race to AP’s… and we see that playing out within our student body a lot… [and stress] is something we are constantly mindful of, and that’s the underlying consequence of being a high-ranking school. Mental health is a serious — and real thing — that must be addressed at all levels, even at the curriculum level… we have to look at the whole child, not just the academics.”
Upon being asked for their side on the matter, students were generally evenly split between support and protest. Alexa Anzora, a sophomore, stated, “As long as the curriculum is useful and worth learning, I’m not against it. They probably have a good reason for having it.”
But a sophomore student in Hillsdale’s AP Physics class disagrees: “Keeping students from taking a more challenging but optional course doesn’t seem fair for anyone! Students with denied opportunities will either feel more behind then their counterparts from other schools, become unmotivated [or] bored, or just seek out a community college course instead. I think students should all get the support they need to learn the content, but this doesn’t necessarily mean holding everyone back.”
Some, however, were neutral about it, like student Justin Garcia: “I think that it’s smart for the school to give many branches of scientific education… but the downside is that it puts a delay to the students’ branch of science they’d like to focus on.”
The physics requirement has both its good and bad parts and can be shed in many different lights. Ultimately, it’s up to the student to decide what they want to do — it’s their responsibility to decide what’s best for them and their future.
