OPINION: Forgotten Piedmont Average Students
The Race to be the Smartest Kid in the Room
In a town of overbearing parents and their genius children, there is a majority that is not being spoken for. The average student is being forgotten. With parents trying to propel their kids to excel in every subject, teachers want it to slow down. The name of the government body is the School Board. The purpose of their meetings is to discuss issues that affect the school. People may also bring problems to the School Board to deliberate. The School Board meeting meets every two weeks.
The major issue that was discussed at the February 28, 2018 meeting was how math classes should be compressed. There is a concern right now that the classes are being too compressed and are cramming too much information into a short amount of time. Teachers want to slow down the math classes and allow kids to digest the material. However, parents with high achieving kids think the math classes are too slow.
Allison Elvekrog spoke out saying that her child Jack was bored in Calculus AB. She was concerned that her son was not being pushed enough in the class. However, student Hayden Stone who is in the same class felt like the class was too hard. Hayden said that the class was challenging enough and she thought there were very few kids who were bored.
In my opinion the math classes are the hardest classes offered at Piedmont. Math analysis was the hardest class I have ever taken at Piedmont. I think that kids who excel at math are rare and are special circumstances. Maybe there should be a special class for them that will allow them to excel. I think the math classes should be less compressed and go into more detail.
In an interview with Diana Miller, she said she attended the meeting because she is invested in the Math Pathways program. She wants to have an influence over the School Board’s decision and present her side of the story. She said that one of the problems with the current math situation is that people are double compressing due to social pressure, which she does not think is right. She said that she was surprised that the Board was split on the decision. She thought they would all agree or disagree with the presentation. She said that in two weeks the Board will come back with their decision.
by Riley Francis, Piedmont High School Senior
