No More Freshman Seminar

As students of Samo, we all know what Freshmen Seminar is—the class infamous for its poorly constructed curriculum and redundant material—and as a victim of this pointless, time-consuming class, I hope that future generations will be aware and seek for a better alternative.This year, possibly due to inundating complaints from parents and students, the curriculum was modified, and as a result, the most important component, health, was removed. Even more appalling is that they’ve added self-evaluation and career planning to the course and have begun to define “success”. Success is different for everyone as we each have our own goals to achieve, our own game of Life to play. Who are they to tell us what we should think?The “10 year plan” also plays a massive role in the new curriculum: what classes to take, what college to go to, what job to apply for…maybe even when to get married. It’s all inclusive. As flawless as a plan may be, there will always be twists and turns along the road, things that can’t be calculated. As Daozi once said, “Go with the flow” and “Let nature take its course”. I don’t deny that these units will help people, but to what extent? To whom? Many people come to high school, maybe even middle school, prepared for what life has in store for them. And for those who don’t, Freshmen Seminar will only teach them about success. But what about failure? What about the 500,000 people sleeping on the streets tonight? What about the 26.1 percent of America’s population that is currently unemployed? Will day after day of documentaries and Cornell notes save us?Some may protest that there are units that will provide us with a better education such as the eugenics unit, teaching us to refrain from making the same mistakes again, to improve our ways. But then what are history classes for? In World History we learn about the holocaust in Germany and the Armenian genocide, teaching us about the racism and prejudice behind these mass killings and to teach us that all humans, no matter what race or gender, should be equal. In U.S. History we learn the Brown v. Board of Education and the Plessy v. Ferguson cases, teaching us the struggles that our ancestors have gone through to achieve equality. In U.S. Government we learn how we have gradually made progress towards ending racism and sexism, motivating us to make a difference, for future generations to come. Though the meaning behind this all is to prepare us for college and a better future for ourselves, it is ironic that it is taking up a whole 56 minutes of our lives each day when we could be working on personal development. Instead of spending countless hours planning what we would like to achieve, we could actually work towards the bright future we have in mind.Freshmen Seminar should be given as an elective, not a requirement, only for those who are completely clueless so that others may spend their time actually getting ahead by fulfilling their history requirement with World History or completing their art requirements through photography, orchestra, ceramics and other vast opportunities that Samo provides.