It took me three and a half years to realize I actually enjoy the humanities. It took a year of forgetful English 9, a year of Honors English, a year of tedious American Literature and a semester of arduous Composition until I finally fell onto a topic I enjoyed.

See, until this semester, I thought English, and the humanities as a whole, didn’t interest me. Though I have always liked reading the books, the questions and projects that came along with the stories felt contrived and cumbersome to complete. I loved many of the books, but their true meaning was lost within the assignments.

Some of my English teachers would preach about how lucky we were to be able to take a class that would grade us on reading. To a point, they were right. I have been lucky to be exposed to such a breadth of literature throughout my English classes at Westside. However, the manner at which we are graded ruins the experience of a book or topic.

Grades turn discussions into mindless regurgitation of what everyone thinks the teacher wants to hear. Graded papers turn thought-provoking questions into wordy answers that overpower the essence of a theme. And the experience that falls to the student, myself and others is a muddled down tedious display that is more about getting an A than actually finding any meaning within a piece.

It is hard to blame the teachers for what English classes have devolved into. The majority of the teachers I’ve had have only the best intentions. Their creative impact on a class is bottlenecked, though, by regulations and expectations set by the administration and state as a whole to do well on standardized tests. For over five years now, Westside has been emphasizing the importance of taking English classes. English is the only department where four years are required to graduate. From this requirement stems the true issue I find within high school English classes.

The requirement for four years of English means virtually every student will be taking an English class every semester. That is about 2,000 spots that need to be offered to students every semester. This is an incredibly tough thing to ask from the English department. Understandably, to cope, the English department offers less options for students to take classes in. English classes become too generalized for students to find any meaning within them.

The humanities of literature are vast. There are so many niches of literature and composition that can be taught; each one attracts a different student. The University of Central Florida offers an argumentative essay class where students take part in a fantasy football league. Every week they have to write an argumentative essay justifying the moves they made that week for their fantasy team. Though this class is very specific, it involves a select group of students who are now having fun in an English class because they are genuinely interested in their work. When Literature classes in high school are generalized, very few students become interested in the work. The majority simply jump through hoops to pass the class.

In an ideal world, Westside would be able to offer a plethora of classes that spark interest in almost all of the students here. This isn’t a perfect world, however. Teachers and funds are limited, which means the amount of possible classes is limited too. But that doesn’t mean we just give up on offering more diverse class options for students. Instead of offering Honors Literature to sophomores, why can’t there be a class on poetry, a class that reads classic novels and a class based solely around greek mythology? The possibilities of more purposeful learning through an English department which offers a diverse set of classes to its wide array of students is endless.

I believe the results would be astounding, as well. When students are more interested with their learning, they will retain the knowledge better and continue the learning process at home. Then, come the time of the “necessary” standardized essays, students will be able to apply their knowledge and interests in a relevant way, raising the writing scores of Westside, and giving the administration the warm fuzzies.