Lick-Wilmerding students will no longer be allowed to take more than five A to E academic classes during their junior and senior years. This new policy continues to fulfill the requirements for admission to schools in the University of California (UC) system.
Lick’s administration decided to limit students to five academic classes that fall within the UC system’s A through E classes, Language, English, History, Science and Math, and up to two electives — UC designated G academic classes or other electives — for the 2020-2021 school year.
As part of the new policy and to support students’ interests, Lick is creating more G designated electives in the different disciplines. The science department plans on adding two of the following G science electives based on student interest: Ethics and Philosophy, Behavioral Genetics and Anthropology or Music and the Brain. In addition, Brain and Behavior will continue to be taught at Lick and is designated as a G class. Thus, some “doubling” in a field is possible. For example, students would be able to take Honors Chemistry, an A-E class, and Brain and Behavior, a G class, at the same time.
Students may also double in a field by taking a Blend-Ed course as a second class in the discipline.
There is also a third way doubling is possible. Even with the changes, a few seniors will be able to take two A through E classes in the same discipline. If a senior has fulfilled the Lick graduation requirements in one A through E category, they can replace an A through E class in that discipline with a second A through E in another. For example, if a senior has mastered a language through level three, they can drop that class and choose a fifth core class in a second A through E class of another discipline, like English or science.
In the past, each semester, over half of the upperclassmen have taken more than one class in the same academic subject. The administration settled on its new policy after hearing teacher feedback and reading students’ comments in the biannual Student Experience Surveys.
In a letter addressed to the Lick community in the eTiger, Head of School Eric Temple mentioned that the decision to limit A through E classes was made to reduce stress levels for students and to promote a holistic, explorative education for students and help students develop into balanced community members.
“I would hope that people trust the school, that the educational experience that you’re getting at Lick is unique and excellent, and that’s not going to impair anybody’s college or life experiences,” Assistant Head of School Randy Barnett, said. “In fact, it’s going to enhance it, because now you’re going to have time to take some things you wouldn’t normally take. You don’t feel like you have to follow this one track.”
However, Noelle Pak ’22 thinks that this policy will make college more stressful because other schools offer more opportunities for their students to focus on certain academic disciplines and become better prepared for college.
“I think it’s really important to acknowledge that a high school’s job is not only to get students into college, but also what happens after that,” Pak said. “I feel like depending what field you want to go into, having more experience and knowledge is going to make a big difference.”
Various public schools in San Francisco, like Lowell, Lincoln and Washington, allow students to double in certain classes for all four years of high school, as long as students do not exceed seven classes. At these three schools, each student’s course schedules must be approved by a school counselor in order to ensure that the student will be able to manage their classes without being overwhelmed.
Other independent schools in San Francisco also allow their students to take more than five academic A through E classes.
Part of the Lick administration’s rationale was to be sure that students had a broad educational experience and tried different disciplines. Along with the five A through E classes, Lick also requires a semester of health class and a semester of performing arts, as well as the frosh requirements of Body-Mind Education, Contemporary Media and Art and Design and Technology, which provide Lick students with a unique education that extends beyond college requirements.
Pak, however, found the classes she took to fulfill Lick’s art graduation requirements to be more stressful than her academic ones.
“It’s forcing people to take performing arts and technical arts when that’s just not what some people want to do. For some people, taking an art class is more stressful than taking another academic class,” she said.
Pak petitioned Lick’s administration to once again allow students to take more than five A through E academic classes. Pak mentioned that she felt as though students had not had a voice in the decision to create the policy. She wanted to take action so that the student body was heard. Thus far, the petition has been signed by over two hundred students, and Pak has seen little criticism of it from the student body.
However, during past Student Experience Surveys, students have mentioned high- stress levels in their course loads, and the administration has taken this feedback to create this new policy in order to alleviate some of that pressure, and so that students can focus on deeper learning rather than trying to simply finish their homework. The surveys are anonymous, and while students have not vocally opposed the petition, there is some student support for this new policy.
The plan to limit students’ course load to five A through E academic classes have been in the works for years before the administration decided to implement it in the Fall of 2020. Barnett affirmed that the school is trying to adapt to fit student’s needs and wants, similarly to how the course catalog changes every year depending on interest. The administration is trying to best serve student interest while maintaining a holistic education for students.
