We are all required to earn the same amount of credits in order to graduate high school. This means that oftentimes, hundreds of students enroll in the same course. Surely, to best manage this high volume of students, a cohesive curriculum would be the best option, right? 

Obviously all of the students involved in the same class will be taught utilizing the same curriculum map, the same pacing, and the same units. If only that were the case.

Allowing teachers to decide based on their own preference the order and pace with which they teach can be incredibly damaging for the education of their students. 

The order in which we’re taught units in any given course has a huge impact on how well we’re able to learn. For example, last year while I was taking physics, most of my close friends had a different teacher than I did. This should not have been an issue as we could collaborate outside of school, but every physics teacher focused on a different unit at a different time. While I was learning about Newton’s laws, my friends were learning about projectile motion. Even though we were all in the prep course, it seemed that our knowledge of the subject was entirely different for most of the year.

Similarly, this year seniors in AP Rhetoric of Language and Composition are reading “1984” by George Orwell. While many classes began reading the book in September, others picked up the story well into October. How can students be expected to reach their full potential in their classes if they can not receive help from those enrolled in the same course as them?

While there are other ways to receive help, these solutions pose a few issues. For starters, hiring a tutor is expensive and not affordable for everyone. Along with this, students drowning in after school activities and work hours often do not have the time for a tutor.

The other option is the drop-in center. While the drop-in center is an incredibly helpful resource, it would be much more beneficial if students followed the same curriculum pacing. Oftentimes, going to the drop-in center simply requires you to spend 10 of your all-too-few minutes explaining that no, you haven’t learned “xyz” yet even though the last four students who came in have. If everyone was following the same pacing and the same curriculum, those at the drop-in center would have a significantly easier time helping students without needing a rundown of where each teacher is in the course.

The easiest way to help students succeed is to allow them to help each other. The only way we can successfully do so is if we are all learning the same subjects. A cohesive curriculum across all teachers is more than a want—it’s a need. In order to reach our full potential as students, we need resources that are consistent for everyone.