Immediately following the  two-day start to the 2016-2017 school year at Arrowhead, some students found themselves disliking more than just waking up extra early. While the majority of Arrowhead students signed up for their desired courses this past winter, there are some who did not receive one or more of their sought-after classes in their schedule. Instead, they got tossed in a class they did not enrol in.

Considering the limited, one-week time window in which dropping classes is allowed at Arrowhead, some students tried to release themselves before the point of no return.

There is a plethora of reasons for dropping a course. Starting with difficulty, it is not uncommon to drop AP or advanced classes the first week once the course overviews are put on the table. There are also scenarios in which students see the material that is going to be covered throughout the semester and, with that in mind, decide that is not on their intellectual level.  

In regards to specific scenarios this year, there are those who have even dropped a class to simply make room for an additional study hall. That was the case with Arrowhead senior Logan Klink.

Klink says, “I had signed up for consumer autos but a couple of days in I saw the amount of homework I was going to get throughout the semester. So, I decided I wanted another study hall instead.”

Adding classes is nothing out of the ordinary, either. In addition to dropping Autos, Klink also picked up the course “adventure gym,” despite already having the necessary three gym credits necessary to graduate.

Klink says, “I picked up adventure gym because I had friends in the class.”

Another form of class dropping is the process in which students have been enrolled in a class for a few years and then decide not to continue on the following year. Reasons can range from an incline in difficulty, loss of interest, or acquiring the necessary credits to graduate. After three years of Spanish class at Arrowhead, Jack Vento, a senior, said he opted out of enrolling in Spanish 4 this year.

“Last year, I found Spanish to be a waste of time and sort of the black hole in my day because it felt incredibly tedious. It got to the point where when I was asked what if Spanish was required in your desired career? I would answer I would switch my career path.”

Vento says he took Spanish for three years “so I could get into college.”

In the guidance department, North Campus Guidance Secretary Gayle Morrison said that “finding availability of classes to fit into someone’s schedules is always the hardest part of the process.”

North campus counselor Mike Ward said he agreed. Furthermore, when asked to put on a scale of 1-1-0 (1 being not busy at all, and 10 being completely swamped) the amount of students piling into guidance, Morrison said. “On the first two days, I would say a nine; it was packed. Throughout this week it was more like a 5 or 6.”  

Morrison’s said, “We have what we like to call ‘shoppers.’ Which are kids who come back several times throughout the week and switch classes.”

There are many ways to adjust to a new school year, but perhaps the most common is schedule modification. That being said, with the week and the possibility of schedule change coming to a halt on Friday, students need to get stepping to guidance or otherwise they won’t be stepping out of their unwanted classes.