In the past, students have been required to take regular standard English Language Arts (ELA) courses for their four years of high school gaining one credit for each year. Unfortunately, there are students who think that the customary ELA classes lack interesting content. But recently, school administrators and teachers have come together to give senior students the opportunity to replace the standard ELA courses with the “elective” course credits. Even though these electives are more interesting alternative classes, they weren’t offered as full credit ELA courses in the past. Now this gives students a chance to become more attentive and interested in an English class. ELA teacher Mr. Tim Dial-Scruggs believes that this opportunity is an advantage to seniors because they get to enjoy English credit courses that aren’t basic.

“The senior ‘elective’ courses can replace the English 4 option,” Mr. Dial-Scruggs said. “So they are regular English credit courses. I feel that the senior elective courses are beneficial just because they provide seniors the opportunity to select a course based on their interests. So instead of having a generic English 4 course that covers a little bit of everything, they can choose a semester course that focuses specifically on something that they want to study or something that they want to look into.”

Though they are obviously educational courses that help students in future situations like written essays and book reports, these classes don’t gain the attention of all students, especially high school students who don’t plan on pursuing educational pathways when they graduate. Junior Kyra McIntosh thinks this is good for students because they get to work on subjects that are actually intriguing, even if the subject is a little hard.

“It’s a good alternative because most seniors just do English 4 and they get a challenge if they choose another elective class,” McIntosh said.

ELA elective classes like Mythology, Creative Writing, British Lit., etc. are now available to students who may prefer more fascinating classes. It could help those who aren’t engaged in English courses and feel they need something more interesting to focus on. These options give students the chance to learn about new interests that may have more relevance to their future lives. Junior Sean Moore thinks that this opportunity gives him a chance to gain a new passion for English.

“Personally for me, English is not my best subject,” Moore said. “Since I get to try new things and see what I like, I’ll probably find a new interest or passion in English.”

Students who would like to gain the opportunity to take these courses during their senior year can look over the types of classes the English department provides by asking a teacher for our Fort Osage High School Career and Educational Planning Guide. Or students can simply go to the Fort Osage website and under the “counseling” tab is a career and educational planning guide option.