Arcata High offers numerous challenging classes that require time and dedication to achieve a good grade. The questions students face when they pick their schedule for the following year are: How will they balance workload and social life? Are these classes worth taking? Will I learn and expand my horizons?
Students’ reasons for choosing to take academically demanding classes vary, such as personal drive and passion for the subjects. Senior Amira Wanden has taken almost every class at Arcata High considered “the hardest.” While admitting that she has taken difficult classes to look good for colleges, Wanden also gave many reasons why she simply prefers challenging classes over ones that require less dedication.
“For example, I really really love physics. I took physics last year, and I’m taking AP Physics this year because that’s my favorite subject,” Wanden said. “I don’t like taking classes where I’m learning nothing. Also, being
in classes with other people who are self-motivated, you get a lot more out of the classes because everyone is actually there because they want to learn.”
Wanden demonstrates that with nothing more than drive and passion, students can stack up an impressive list of difficult classes. Another senior proves that you can start taking difficult classes at any point. Arlo Clow shares his insight into why he took AP classes for his last year of high school.
“I wanted to have some challenge in my life,” Clow said. “I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself hard enough to grow.”
While admitting that he likes easy classes more, mainly because they don’t have as much homework, he conceded that “some of the hard classes are really fun and better for learning.”
Although taking difficult classes is a secure route to attending competitive four-year universities such as UC’s, this path is far from the only one. Senior Kyler Truesdell exemplifies a path of knowing one’s personal strengths and limitations.
“I struggle with procrastination, and [attending a highly academic school] was never something that I really wanted to do,” Truesdell said. “Trade school was more what allured me, or community college.”
For Truesdell, taking easier, college prep classes was a way to ensure that he graduated and could move on to the education that would best suit his goals in life.
More than anything, a plan is the most important thing to have when choosing what classes to take. If your plan is to apply to prestigious universities, taking difficult classes is a must. But if you plan to go to less competitive schools, trade schools, community colleges, or enter the workforce out of high school, saving yourself the massive workload and stress of difficult classes can be the best idea.
