Langley High School Principal Dissolves Humanities 'Link'
Students who choose to take Advanced Placement humanities class will still be required to link those courses.
Langley High School Principal Matt Ragone released the following statement on Tuesday regarding the school's humanities link, which has existed at the school since the '70s.
With the introduction of Honors classes the mandatory link between English and Social Studies classes that has existed at Langley in some form since the 1970s must be dissolved.
However, the link will continue to exist for those students who sign up voluntarily for [AP English 11 and AP US History in 11th grade; Honors English 10/AP World in the 10th grade].
The decision to dissolve the mandatory link was made because students choosing the new honors courses in either English or History would create an imbalance in our master schedule which would prevent many students from getting the classes they request."
If you have any questions or concerns about how this might impact your individual child's situation, please contact your counselor.
Ragone hosted a meeting at the school on Feb. 7. Many parents expressed concerns that the link required too much from their students, who had trouble carrying an all-AP or an all-Honors course load.
The school's student newspaper, The Saxon Scope, called the change "radical." An informal poll indicated 93 percent of students favor the policy change.
But students who choose to take Advanced Placement humanities classes will still be required to link the courses.
For example, if a student elects to take an Advanced Placement history course, he or she will also be expected to take an Advanced Placement English course.
Susan Stewart
8:12 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
The last sentence in this article is inaccurate. If, for example, a student elects to take an AP history course, that student is not expected to take an AP English course. That student is allowed to choose an honors or regular English course and the two classes won't be linked. However, if a student chooses to take an AP history course and the same student chooses to take an AP English course than those courses will be linked. They will have the same group of students in both classes and the two teachers will teach the class in concert with each other. For instance, when the 11th grade AP history class is reading the Constitution as an historical document, the 11th grade AP English class will be analyzing the Constitution's for it's writing merits. That won't happen if the student chooses to take one class honors or regular and one class AP. In that case, each class will have a different group of students and the two teachers will also be randomly assigned.
Susan Stewart
LHS Parent and Co-Chair of the Curriculum and Education Committee