The term “blow-off” is commonly found throughout the educational environment when taken in the context of a class’s difficulty level, and the same holds true for schools in this district.

             “There are some [electives that are blow-offs],” senior Cort Thomas said. “But I’ve never really been in one other than a first level that would truly be considered an easy elective.”

Classes are divided into required core classes and electives, which, for the most part, are optional and based on student interest. However, some electives are considered more time-consuming than others.

             “I think [that what separates the electives is] just the workload,” junior Natalie Scott said. “And it’s just that some classes are harder than others in knowing the material and having to study the material, because I never have homework in choir or math lab, and yearbook even, it’s just the work you do in class compared to AP Psychology where it’s what you do outside of class that influences your grade and how well you do in that class.”

Some classes can be defined by its participants as a blowoff in which little work is done and most time is free time.

“A blow-off class I would define as maybe one worksheet a period,” senior Carter Benno said. “No tests, get it over with and then you can just sit there and do whatever you want.”

Other elective types, such as AP, are considered very challenging.

“AP Psychology is one of the hardest classes that I’m taking right now,” Scott said. “I think the fact that the tests and quizzes require so much knowledge about the subject, and you have to study for hours at a time to be good at it, and it’s just so much information in a short time.”

Some electives, while not necessarily AP, are still considered difficult.

“French [is harder] because it’s a whole new language to learn,” sophomore Tom Elvin said.

However, there is a difference between the styles of certain elective classes.

“No, [not all electives are like AP Psychology] because choir and math lab aren’t grade-oriented, they’re just work-oriented,” Scott said. “So it’s more like doing the best you can do in that class to prepare for your concerts or your math class, so those aren’t hard at all.”

The difference between the various levels of electives can relate to the workload out of class and the engagement level in class.

“The amount of work it requires,” Thomas said. “There are some electives like AP Art that require a lot of work and there are some classes like art I don’t really require a lot of outside work.”

Other times, the disparity can relate to the nature of the course itself.

“I think that when a student calls a class a blow-off it means to that student that this class requires less work than other classes,” principal Gavan Goodrich said. “Certainly, there are electives that are built around exposing students to aspects of different kinds of things, so there’s courses like business, there’s courses like art, there’s courses like health and human sciences, and there’s courses like family and consumer science, and sometimes the nature of those courses are introductory, and since they’re introductory and since they’re not following a sequence, that they may seem less rigorous. I do think that there are some elective teachers who know that kids have rigorous schedules, and they have four cores, and so, rather than making their course as rigorous as a core science or math course, they don’t require as much homework, outside reading, and they try to keep the work inside the classroom, therefore, those courses are inherently less rigorous.”

There are many challenging electives, but it cannot be denied that there are also classes that require less work.

“There are some classes that you don’t have to do a lot of work in,” senior Ryan Block said. “We figure it out through the years; which teachers kinda just give up halfway, and then just let us sit there all class period and hang out.”

There seems to be a mixed bag of effects that go along with these classes.

“[I think these classes exist because] I guess there are some teachers who just give up,” Block said. “Or I guess students kinda need a break from going from AP to AP to AP.”

Whatever the effects on the school, there is a difference between the difficulty of classes that are available for students to take.

“Every course should have intellectual challenge,” Goodrich said. “Every course should spark interest and have integrity. Do you have to have a lot of homework and outside work to have integrity as a course? No. Do you have to have a lot of outside work and heavy reading to spur someone’s thinking and challenge their thinking? No. So I think that some students may see electives as a blow-off, but I would continue to challenge students to ask teachers for more. Ask them to do more. I think that a lot of students who have busy schedules get into an elective class so that they can have a break in their schedules so that they’re not working eight hard classes where there’s lots of work, so it’s a breath of fresh air for a student to have a less work-intensive class. So, the difference really is: is it work-intensive, is it challenging, is it interesting? That’s where I think you should ask kids: Are my elective classes interesting? Are they challenging? Am I thinking? Am I learning new things that are going to open my mind to what these different avenues expose students to? That’s the kind of question you should be asking, not is it a blow-off class, or is it a rigorous, difficult course.”