By Uy Pham and Zander Sherry
You sign up for a class at your local community college, and think to yourself, “The class will be easy, it’ll only be a few weeks… I’ll just get my college credit and be done with it!”
In a concurrent enrollment class, one can take a class approved for both high school and college credit. For a few weeks, virtual modules pave the path for achieving dual credit from the comfort of your home.
Sounds efficient right? Killing two birds with one stone. This can be tempting for many students to concurrently-enroll for credits instead of the year-long courses at FVHS.
However, when compared to year-long courses at FVHS, this virtual, compressed model of learning fails to meet the substance of a college-level or even high school level course. This calls for students to consider what college credit and the easy-sounding nature of concurrent enrollment means for their own understanding.
While the COVID-19 pandemic normalized online learning, students struggled to communicate with their teachers and teachers struggled to verify student understanding. Instead of asking teachers important questions, students could turn to the internet, easily looking up answers to coursework. Taking an online course means sacrificing quality in-person instruction and connection with the teacher and peers.
“There’s pros and cons to taking [a course] in person,” senior Curtis Harper, who takes economics at GWC, said. “I would definitely be able to learn a lot quicker and easier in an in person class rather than an online class.”
Most concurrent enrollment courses are structured as a six week course in the summer, or at most, 16 weeks, 3.4 hours per week during the school year. These time frames don’t compare to a year-long course where daily instruction and review contribute to greater understanding of the information, which is especially important for future applications (e.g., learning history as future voters). Furthermore, Golden West College’s US History since 1876, the alternative course to FVHS US history, leaves out key events such as the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
“One of the biggest concerns for history that I have as a teacher, especially with APUSH, is how there’s so much information for students to understand,” history teacher David Uribe said. “I already know I don’t have enough time to teach [APUSH], and to shorten those time parameters down I think does an injustice to students.”
The information within core classes are crucial for the development of students, information that cannot be completely conveyed in a shortened concurrent enrollment course. English improves our skills of self-reflection but these skills cannot be completely demonstrated in a shortened course.
“I’m not sure that there is another course that allows you to reflect upon your own growth as a human being,” English teacher and HBUHSD English Language Arts facilitator David Theriault said. “English class is a great reflection and mirror for you to be able to look at ‘how am I doing as a human being and where do I want to get as a human being?’”
Not only does concurrent enrollment affect students’ learning, teachers face the effects of declining student enrollment in their classes. Student enrollment has decreased due to a variety of factors including students moving away from FVHS and increasing concurrent enrollment.
“It’s hard to pinpoint what the actual cause of declining enrollment is, but [concurrent] enrollment is an element of it. We had one teacher last year, Scheppele, we weren’t able to hold on to because we just didn’t have the [students] in our classes to maintain her as a teacher,” FVHS history department coordinator Michael Kral said.
According to Kral, the history department is in the process of developing alternative measures to combat declining student enrollment including year-long classes for geography, history of film, and Model United Nations.
“If [concurrent] enrollment continues shrinking our numbers, we can still have a robust history department and give some students some other options,” Kral said.
Both AP and concurrent classes do give college credit. However, most AP classes meet year-long, and four year colleges often focus on a certain aspect of history in specialized courses that build on your knowledge from high school. College Board’s dreadful final AP exam and fees are no student’s dreams, but final exams exist through academics as a standardized way to assess your knowledge and if you should receive credit for the information you have learned.
Personal circumstances always have to be noted, some students do not have the space in their schedules to accommodate certain courses and need to make them up outside of FVHS.
“I think some students are seeing that it can give them some flexibility in their schedule, especially students that are more impacted, where they might be in two periods of choir and taking computer science and other courses that are more difficult to schedule,” Assistant Principal of Guidance Rachel Kloppenburg said.
Community college should not be disregarded, because it can be a fulfilling and practical option for education after high school. But when students use concurrent enrollment to game the system, they undermine the purpose of the class being for college credit. Students should take deep consideration when deciding to do online and shortened courses, and understand that the toughness of a year-long course results in learning key information to take into their lives.
“I had a kid for one day, transferring out of [APUSH]. He took it over the summer,” Uribe said. “I was just curious, and I asked him a few brief questions about US History… he didn’t have any idea. It made me sad for him thinking he missed out on a really significant opportunity to learn a subject matter that will become important to him later in life.”
Instead of “freeing up your schedule,” you should try to use your multiple elective spots at FVHS or take other classes offered at community colleges to study your interests. Keep your core classes as year long courses if you haven’t solidified your ambitions in other fields, as many students are still exploring their interests and discovering who they are.
The rigor and engaging nature of an in-person year-long course is lost in an online class and the importance of students’ understanding for future application cannot be fulfilled. Students should be cautious when signing up for a completely online class. Only use concurrent enrollment when personal circumstances call for it, and always speak to your counselor and your teachers when deciding what courses to take.
