By: Christine Cheon and Young In Seo
American Civilizations, a junior class combining AP Language and AP United States History, was cancelled for the 2015-2016 school year. Despite the fact that American Civilizations, had never been a permanent class, it had been steadily running from 2010 to 2015.
The cancellation came as a disappointment to students who had wanted to take Civ.
“I took Civ in freshman year and I loved the combination of the History and English curriculum. It really worked well and made both classes more interesting. So I wanted to take Civ again,” junior Lucy Zheng said.
The cancelling of Civ was due, in part, to the few number of students taking the class.
“It is my understanding that Amer Civ was cancelled this year because of lack of enrollment as well as [other] issues,” said history teacher Dylan Wedan.
However, the other reasons for Civ’s cancellation were issues that Wedan was not in the position to answer.
Wedan believes that the problem with lack of enrollment would not be a problem if students truly knew the merits of taking the class.
“History and English, the humanities in general, are not best studied alone. All of the humanities depend upon and illuminate the others,” Wedan said. “Relevant historical study must not neglect the humanity of its subjects, and in English classes we see that humanity brought forth more powerfully than any history class can achieve alone.”
Other than the educational benefits of taking Civ, Wedan discussed everyday benefits of the class.
“Of course, you have the practical benefits of seeing the same kids every day, planning with the other Amer Civ teacher, coordinating how and when we are teaching things to most benefit the students, and controlling the homework and projects so that they aren’t hitting the kids hard on the same days,” Wedan said.
In terms of Civ classes starting up again next year, it is still tentative.
“I think it depends. Civ really depends on how many people took and enjoyed Civ in freshman year. “I think that Civ wasn’t very popular with the freshman last year, so next year, I don’t think people will be as interested. But the year after, maybe.” Zheng said.
“If the two Civ teachers were able to explain to the students what the class was and its benefits, and if the students knew what they would be signing up for, I actually think the class would increase in size from any previous year,” Wedan stated.
