High School Education Essay

Submitted By Dioscelina-Lopez
Words: 723
Pages: 3

Dioscelina Lopez
Ms. Villareal
Freshman Comp
October 29, 2014 Should high school be extended?
Educators around the world have been debating whether or not to extend the four years of high school to five total years. Their argument to adding a fifth year to high school education is that it would give students more time to accomplish everything that is required of them in order to move onto a good college. However, others disagree with the extension of high school. For those that disagree, their argument is that the percentage of high school dropouts would increase because the students would lose interest in school and would eventually drop out of high school. After taking both sides into consideration I agree more with the educators that believe high school should not be extended to five years. Things to consider in this debate are economics, student voice, and curricular plan, keeping the school year duration of four years would be the most efficient choice.
In the economic aspect, public schools already have a limited budget as it is.
According to the California Department of Education, the annual funds received by the average high school in California is about fourteen million dollars. Though fourteen million dollars may sound like plenty of money to some, it is not. In fact, many high schools have already been struggling to maintain their curriculum while being able to remain financially stable. Adding yet another year would devastate many schools. The lack of money would lead to having to cut funds in other areas such as sports, after school activities, school materials, amount of time students spend in the classroom and even the teacher's paycheck.
With that said, adding an entire new class of about 200 to 300 students would not only require more staff, but also more materials and not mention an entire new curriculum which would cost the districts a lot more money that they do not have. One should also keep in mind private high schools when thinking of adding a fifth year of high school. Private high schools themselves already have a high tuition. Coming from a private catholic high school myself, I know how expensive four years of private education is. Altogether, going to a private high school for just four years cost my parents an average of sixty­eight thousand dollars, that's roughly seventeen thousand dollars per year. If a fifth year had to be added to high schools like these, it would simply be impossible and too much money to pay for many.
Students should definitely have a say in this decision not just educators and schools boards. After all, students would be the ones affected the most if high schools were to indeed add another year to their curriculum. According to a research done by a program called