Electives In Middle School

Tired of only having your regular course classes like math? Every middle school and high school, world-wide, should have electives as an option. Not many middle schools have this option like high school students do. Electives can benefit all kids and teens! Not only will it benefit the students, but the parents as well, because their child may have founds a passion thanks to their school elective!

“A number of middle school subject electives provide practical experience for the students that can be useful outside of schools,” according Ernie Rambo, a National Board Certified Teacher and also a co-author of the 2010 report from the Center for Teaching Quality. Electives include band, orchestra, chorus, art, home economics,drama and technology.

If students could choose their own electives, it would provide more self knowledge, and students would be much happier to come to school. People would look forward to doing the classes they picked. Besides, students need time to explore their self knowledge, and choosing their own electives will provide this. So, you should consider letting middle school students choose their own electives.

When children take the arts classes it promotes self-directed learning, school attendance improves, and their critical and creative skill improve along with it.

Foreign languages help students compete to be accepted into top schools. Many colleges require a foreign language for admission, but more than that it teaches students important study skills needed to be accepted to and excel in college. The memory is like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. Learning a foreign language exercises the memory, thus making it easier to remember facts from other classes. Students who study a foreign language also find their English improves. By learning a language, students learn English grammar, sentence construction and parts of speech, helping them excel in English and other classes that require writing.

Knowing another language puts a person in an advantage of carrier selection. In our extreme and fast moving environment, people who know more than one language have more employment opportunities. Many professional firms require knowledge of second language. And people who know a second language have a huge advantage over those who do not.

1. The point of taking Spanish or any other foreign language is crucial in education. Knowing a foreign language can come in handy when you're visiting a foreign country and it is becoming an increasingly needed skill in the diversifying Untied States. Learning a foreign language like Spanish can also help you with your English by making you think harder when reading and analyzing the context and sentence structure of things written in both languages. Employers and colleges also look for Spanish speakers because an understanding of the language not only shows your intellect and your ability to learn but it also makes you valuable in a country that has a rising Spanish population like the United States. Besides all the benefits from taking a Spanish class it is also a lot of fun to learn. For me I have always been fascinated

Not only would the student not sacrifice school work, the elective may actually improve it. A student who is compelled, by an elective, to take part in something they enjoy will be a student who is calmer and happier. This student will then be better able to complete major-specific classes.

I am a student here at Oxford Middle school and I feel that it is important to inform you that our school should have a wider variety of electives. Oxford Middle school is a perfectly fine school, but many of the students seem to not be able to focus in class. My belief is that kids aren’t doing what they find as fun with the school day they have now. I think that our school should give more elective choices so that kids won't be as board in school.

“Massive increases in funding at the local, state or federal levels,” said Paul LeClerc. I agree with this quotation because people with skills and knowledge will increase in funding, state or federal levels. It reminded me of my uncle, which he is Four Stars (O-10) as a General, or an Admiral in Kurdistan (Iraq). He speaks 4 languages he speaks Kurdish, Arabic, English and Turkish he learned all these languages in school he went to University of Kurdistan Howler. He is where he is now it’s because of his knowledge and his skills. He has a good relationship with others because he can speak their language. So it’s good to learn other languages in school because it can help in the future or now you. You never knew it came in handy

“States’ new budgets are providing less per-pupil funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did six years ago — often far less” (Leachman, 2014, para. 1). Budget cuts in school districts ultimately root from states trying to overall save money. It is happening everywhere across the nation. Schools feel the heat to provide all the educational opportunities to their students while staying under budget at the same time. However, when funding is reduced, schools cannot afford everything they once did. By definition, electives are considered to be, “…courses that fall outside of the main core academic subject areas (english, math, history, science and foreign language). These courses are not required, but a student chooses to take them”

In the New York Times, Room for Debate article. The first debater is against mandating foreign language classes as a requirement in college because she believes language cannot be taught well in a classroom setting. Instead, it is better obtained through experience to understand the whole language in natural form by practicing it and using it on a day to day bases as a form to communicate and not treated as an assignment. As for the second debater, she believes learning a new foreign language can be essential, but not ideal especially as a college student. She further supports her claim by mentioning in college the student should ultimately decide if he or she would like to take a foreign language class while studying for their decided degree. In contrast, the last debater sees the question in a positive light. She believes that taking a foreign language class in college is beneficial and necessary for the future of the working class individual. She claims that obtaining the knowledge of another language is what will get the student

Fine arts in schools have been debated for years. While many programs still exist, children are told that their fine arts education will not help them in school, or in life. This is false under all circumstances, as with the right teacher and motivation, a student can grow a passion for the arts. Though studies are still being conducted, there is great evidence that the fine arts are beneficial in the overall education of a student, as well as the world as a whole. Art programs should be kept in schools because of their amazing impact on the academic and personal lives of those who connect to it.

Some students would argue that taking a foreign language class in high school would not benefit them after graduation, as they plan to study a major in which being multilingual is not essential. This may seem reasonable as some majors, such as cosmetology or psychology may not ever use a foreign language nor require further study of a foreign language. However, studies have shown that studying a foreign language builds more skills than just language. Memorization, critical thinking and interpretation skills improve immensely in those students who take a foreign language class in high school (“Benefits and Opportunities” 1). Students can then use these skills to improve academic performance in other areas, improving overall college success.

“One of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time”, Federico Fellini once stated that “A different language is a different vision of life” and I, in my turn tend to say that he was perfectly right. A person who speaks more than one language can experience multiple personalities, visions and reflections consisting which language is he speaking. High School students should comprehend the real benefit of speaking a foreign language. Being a multilingual myself and speaking fluently four languages and studying another two, I consider that I am qualified enough to persuade that my argument is strong, plausible and not ultimately-right. In the following paragraphs I am going to address the following three reasons why should other High School students learn at least one foreign language? Firstly, learning a new language enhances performances in the academic domain and makes you smarter. Secondly, knowing a new language is a high estimated and a very valuable characteristic in your professional CV. Thirdly, international travel is more pleasant through knowing a foreign language.