When junior Anna Russo explains her passion for art, she leans forward, eyes wide and eager. Yet this dedicated arts aficionado has obtained only one elective credit.

“I love the arts,” said Russo. “I just don’t have time for them.”

Russo takes Chinese and French in addition to Advanced Placement Chemistry, which requires two extra lab blocks twice a week. By doubling up on academic classes, Russo has rendered herself incapable of taking electives.

Last year, 21 of the estimated 100 seniors under guidance counselor Nicole Bent’s jurisdiction needed to take at least three more electives before graduating. According to Bent, most students who take additional academic classes throughout their high school career – such as a second language, African-American Scholars Program Seminar or Tutorial – often struggle to fulfill elective requirements.

This is also the case for sophomore Dana Lucas, whose schedule leaves little time for electives, as she takes both Spanish and Latin.

Lucas is frustrated by graduation requirements, which state that students must earn either three credits in a single elective field or one credit in each of the three fields. Instead, she feels that students should be able to pursue world languages as electives, since they foster cultural awareness, a benefit shared with the arts.

Yet Performing Arts Curriculum Coordinator Lynn Modell believes that academic classes fail to offer students the same opportunity for self-discovery.

“I don’t agree with the philosophy that is behind the policy, or non-policy, of allowing students to double up on academics,” said Modell. “High school is a time for experimentation; there are so many wonderful offerings here. To not take advantage of those offerings is beyond a shame.”

Visual Arts Curriculum Coordinator Alicia Mitchell concurs.

“Students don’t know what they like or can do until they are put in the place of trying it, and then there’s some discovery,” said Mitchell. “Electives give students a new way of seeing themselves, and our concern is that kids miss that opportunity.”

Sophomore Issey Xia recalls one such incident of self-discovery from the photography class she took as a freshman.

“I don’t think you only learn about yourself during an elective. You surprise yourself,” said Xia. “I didn’t expect that I would get into photography last year, but I got the class, and I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll give it a shot.’ I began to look forward to it so much just because I liked it, which was surprising.”

The ability to teach skills that can be applied to any number of fields is another reason Mitchell so strongly believes in the arts’ importance to every student’s education.

“Through electives, you are able to work on specific skills, and by doing them, you get stronger at them,” said Mitchell. “It doesn’t deter you from any other pursuit to get engaged in an elective program. It will actually get you learning and thinking from a different angle that will enhance your ability to be that doctor or that scientist.”

Sophomore Nat Taylor believes in the importance of taking electives but feels that the elective policy would better benefit students if it allowed them to graduate after earning three elective credits, regardless of how those credits were distributed. Ideally, such a policy would encourage students to not only pursue their existing interests but also explore classes outside their normal choices.

“I think you should be able to take electives in areas you want to, rather than having them broken down into different types,” said Taylor. “Classes have people in them who don’t care about them at all. There’s no reason they should be in that class if they’re just there for the credit. It’s bad for them, and it damages the class for the rest of the people because it sends out a negative vibe.”

Lucas and Xia argue that by enabling students to take only the art classes in which they have a genuine interest, the school can unlock electives’ potential to both channel creativity and function as a space for students with unique interests to congregate.

Xia added that if the elective policy were to be made more flexible, students would select classes in which they would be happiest, thus optimizing students’ abilities to discover friends who share their interests.

Mitchell affirms that while it is important for students to engage in classes they are passionate about, taking a wide range of classes opens them up to new interests.

“Students in high school don’t know what they’re going to become yet,” said Mitchell. “They have strong interests, they have things that they’re good at, so they think, ‘Oh, this is what I’m destined to be.’ That’s why in high school, you take a little of this and a little of that. You might find out something new about yourself.”

Ayesha Mehrotra and Emma Nash can be contacted at [email protected].