As many students of Gulf Breeze are aware, there are very few electives that are given the honors credit at our school. This is frustrating for most, as it weighs down our GPA and affects class rank.  

   Many students who plan on attending an academically challenging college don’t take electives that won’t give them honors credit. To me, this makes sense; however, it shouldn’t have to be a choice. Students should be able to take whatever classes they want and not have to worry about their GPA dropping. We should only have to focus on keeping our grades up to keep our rank up, not about the class we are enrolled in.  

   To make this even more confusing, some electives are counted for honors classes while others are not. Foreign language, for example, is something that is required to graduate high school. However, it does not become honors until a student gets into level three and above. This is ridiculous, because if you are required to take at least two years of a language, there should be an honors option available to us. Why isn’t there an honors option available for beginner foreign language? What is stopping the school from starting it? 

   This next reason just isn’t fair. Some electives are turned into an honors credit after you participate in them for so many years. I’m not saying this is a bad thing and I think it makes sense if you are truly committed to an elective. For example, Student Government becomes an honors course after you are a part of it for two years. I think this is great and makes sense. After all, they have been fully committed to the association for over two years now. However, this becomes a problem when other electives don’t offer the same reasoning. This will be my third year in newspaper, but the class is still not an honors credit for me. I have been an editor for three years and a lot of work goes into that. I think it should be allowed to be an honors credit and boost my GPA since I have taken on this responsibility for quite some time. I love writing and I don’t think I, or other students like me, should have to give up something we are passionate about because it will negatively affect our GPA. The yearbook students put together an entire book of photos, quotes and memories from the school year and it is still not considered an honors credit. This may not seem like a big deal to most, but to some it really matters.  

   I just wish schools in our area and in general would consider this issue. I can see how it may not seem like a problem to many, but to students this topic really matters. I hope that the county will consider students’ perspectives and many other kids will realize they are not the only ones wanting a solution to this problem. Electives are a graduation requirement, and they should be given the weight and importance that they deserve.