A proposal to decrease the number of elective classes required for high school graduation is before the San Jose Unified School District board of trustees. They should reject it. Instead of improving the graduation rate and student achievement, the proposal puts visual and performing arts programs in jeopardy and threatens student success.
Proponents argue that more students will graduate if the graduation requirements are lower. It’s not that simple. Santa Clara Unified and East Side Union require a lower number of credits to graduate, yet both districts have lower graduation rates than San Jose Unified. To be fair, the Campbell Union High School District and the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District have lower requirements and higher graduation rates.
These varied results from neighboring districts show that increasing the graduation rate is more complicated than lowering standards. In fact, the district has failed to provide any statistical analysis or data showing that low elective requirements and high graduation rates are correlated, let alone prove that one causes the other. Nor has the district provided any empirical evidence that this proposal would help close the achievement gap.
Proponents claim students will have more flexibility and freedom to pursue internships. That sounds great, but will the district provide the resources to help students obtain internships? It could accomplish the same result by allowing students to receive elective credit for their internships. In other words, this proposal does not seem to have any benefit that could not be achieved another way.
What is certain is the proposal threatens visual and performing arts programs. Because it reduces the number of elective classes required by three years overall, fewer students will take arts classes after completing the minimum required arts units.
With fewer students in these programs, administrators can justify cutting or diverting funds from the arts. This puts the quality and breadth of arts education as well as its benefits in danger.
According to the Arts Education Partnership, having arts programs in schools increases students’ social skills as well as their test scores. Music classes improve math skills and SAT verbal scores. Dance classes develop creative thinking and persistence. Visual arts classes improve writing and reading comprehension.
Personally speaking, the choir and mock trial programs at Lincoln High School helped develop this nervous and goofy kid into a confident student, with critical thinking and advocacy skills, who went on to become an attorney. Because these elective programs have given me so much, I serve on the Lincoln High School Foundation and coach the mock trial team to ensure new generations of students can benefit from them.
A study by the Center for the Arts also found that arts programs engage and motivate students to participate in school, helping to increase the graduation rate. Intra-district data supports these findings.
Lincoln has an array of award-winning programs, including music, drama and dance. These programs attract students, making Lincoln one of the most sought-out schools in the district. Lincoln boasts a graduation rate of 90.5 percent and a 6.9 percent dropout rate. In contrast, San Jose High School offers significantly fewer visual and performing arts classes than Lincoln. Its graduation rate is 80.2 percent with a dropout rate of 11.3 percent.
Ensuring students learn valuable skills and graduate should be the district’s top priority. The board of trustees should work on improving existing programs that help at-risk students, including mentoring, the Plus Program and summer school.
Expanding arts programs should also be part of the solution. Lowering standards is not the answer.
Richard Nguyen volunteers as an attorney-coach for Lincoln High School’s mock trial team and serves on the board of the school’s foundation. He wrote this for this newspaper.