The elephant in the (class)room
Find the news article regarding the issue here.
Vivian Geilim opinion editor
There is an elephant that lingers through the halls of Beverly. A topic we all think about, but seldom take action on. The discrepancy amidst student’s education. The evident problem of the unregulated and dissimilar curriculum that is shared between two or more teachers teaching the same subject.
It starts at the beginning of every school year–the inevitable storm of students that crowd their counselor’s office in attempt to get a schedule change. And the reason for this eager attempt at switching a schedule? You guessed it, teacher discrepancies.
High school is diverse in mixed emotions. And although administration cannot control teenagers, what they control is the education that students receive. Parents enroll their kids in school for one fundamental reason–to get an education. So, what happens when this crucial aspect of school is manipulated?
The teacher discrepancy issue has become a notorious entity for most students. The main issue is that they feel that there is an irregular balance in the curriculum between two or more teachers teaching the same subject. We must remember that we are indeed very fortunate to not have only one teacher teach an entire class– so we must remember to be thankful for the faculty that provides us with an educational backbone. However, there is no doubt that many classes, where the curriculum is split between two or more, is in most cases unbalanced in workload.
“I am currently enrolled in a class that two teachers teach where the classes are completely different. They do not give the same tests, lecture about the same things, or even teach a somewhat similar curriculum. It is ridiculous. Students spend considerably less time reading, studying
 and doing other homework for the other teacher’s class, while my teacher’s class feels like they are very overworked compared to the other students who are supposedly taking the same class,” an anonymous poll respondent explained. “Going into the school year, your grades should not be determined by the teacher you get, but unfortunately that is how it is for multiple departments.”
In correlation to the faltering curriculum, the difference in the grades given also make students feel uneasy. Due to the different workload in the different classes, many fear that the so-called “easier teachers” make it more convenient to achieve a higher grade. And because of the discrepancies in different classes one might ask, “Is this A really an A? Or is it just an A because I got lucky with my schedule?” The main concern of students in this predicament is  the idea of the student who slacks off getting rewarded while the one who works hard barely manages to get by. Although we cannot generalize this concept; there are students who get the “easy” teacher but nonetheless, work hard, vise versa, we can put an end to the discrepancies amidst the curriculum. The idea is simple: if two students sign up for the same class, they should have an equal opportunity to succeed.
Let’s address this problem head on. Let’s give our students a chance at achieving what they work for, not what they get lucky with. A schedule and/or a teacher should not change the quality of the curriculum that the student body receives. It’s time to even the playing field and equalize the education the students receive.