My school fails at scheduling. They released our schedules for the 2010-11 school year at the beginning of this summer in the attempt to satisfy many anxious high school students and ended up failing and getting everyone's classes wrong.
My schedule alone was pretty bad. They stuck me in the wrong math class, and put me in Human Growth and Development instead of debate.
Right now, I don't even know if there's going to be a debate class, and the chances are there won't be unless they can find a coach by the end of the summer. I've checked around with the other kids who were taking debate and they too have had the class replaced with something else. While losing debate is horrible, I can't help but think about how possibly losing this could open up a way for me to do other things.
For one, my weekends would be clear, meaning that getting a job would actually become a reality. During the school year debate takes up at least half of my weekends, and I do case work on the weekends that I don't have tournaments. With my weekends free I'm less hesitant to get a job because I'll actually have more time to work.
Secondly, my school is rumored to have started a culinary arts program, and I'm all in if there's no debate. I've always wanted to do cooking classes and I was planning to take some for college, but if my school starts doing the classes then I might as well take them.
If anything, I could also take AP Chemistry, that way I can get the AP testing out of the way my junior year.
But all of the above is speculative. Call it my back-up plan, I'm just trying to prepare myself for an unwanted reality. Debate is a big part of my life. It's fun, it's exhilarating, it makes me more aware, but if it indeed was deemed an "unnecessary" program by my school I have to come to terms with their decision and move on.
Do I think it's a mistake to remove the speech & debate program?
Of course, but I'm not a school official, and I can't imagine how hard it is to find someone willing to coach a team of argumentative, moody teenagers. So instead of getting angry I prepared myself for the worst and tried to look at the bright side. I still have Art and AcaDec :)
gah, I feel your pain. I live in Canada, our two official languages are English and french. I am going into the eleventh grade and I wanted to take french. Guess what, there wasn't enough interest and now I am forced to take travel and Tourism. (It was this or auto tech, *shudders at the though*)Although we are supposed to be a bilingual country, French is not "Mandatory". But I have also discovered something because of this, and I now know the future career I am interested in.
ReplyDeleteSo you keep looking to the bright side, because things will always work out in the end. As you wrote, debate was canceled, but hey now you can get a job, and possibly go into the culinary arts.
And I thought my school's scheduling system was frustrating to deal with! I for one don't think they should cut a speech & debate program, cause it sounds like a really great thing to be involved in. But that's true, it's always good to see the silver lining of things (:
ReplyDeleteI hope someone will help you guys out. That's so sad. Just keep networking. I hope something pans out.
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