Chris Stein ’18: An Honors American Literature class will be offered for the 2015-2016 school year to V Form students as a replacement for the AP English Seminar currently taught by Anne Barr, member of the Upper School English Department. “We like the current American Literature curriculum so much that we have created an Honors American Literature course that will replicate and then supplement – albeit quite substantially – the existing American Literature curriculum,” stated Sarah Baker, Chair of the Upper School English Department.
Dr. Delvin Dinkins, Head of the Upper School, explained the path of the class from proposal to reality, saying, “The department began discussing this in earnest last year. They proposed it, having worked to fine-tune it over the last several months, as a recommendation to the administration, and that recommendation has been accepted.”
The Honors American Literature course will follow a similar track as the one previously followed by AP United States History, which was also originally taught as a supplementary seminar. However, this class will not be offered with an AP designation, but with honors so as to maintain curricular flexibility. Honors American Literature will nevertheless be specifically designed to prepare students for the AP Language and Composition and AP Literature and Composition Tests.
This class would be open to rising juniors that maintained a B+ or better in both Introduction to Literature and World Literature or to students that received a B in Introduction to Literature with approval from their sophomore year English teacher. Dinkins elaborated on the prerequisites, “We wanted any Honors English course to be inclusive rather than exclusive—an opportunity for those with good work ethic to improve their English skills.”
Honors American Literature will include a set of four books to be read as a summer reading requirement. However, unlike traditional summer reading, these books will be the first four discussed in class for the year, allowing for a faster discussion and shorter unit. Baker explained the rationale behind this choice: “We recognize that it would be unreasonable to expect the honors students to read fully twice the American Literature text load during the year, so the summer reading will allow students to enter the course having read a common canon and prepared to learn at the fairly accelerated rate that we envision.”
Felicia Zhu ’17 commented that she hopes the course “will separate the strong from the weak.” This, she and others anticipate, will allow for a more rigorous English class with a higher level of discourse and a platform for more challenging assignments. Leo Peng ’15, however, said, “I wouldn’t want an Honors English class because it [would] take too much time and effort.”
This highlights the thoughts of some students that the current AP English Seminar is a relatively easy way to get an honors credit, not requiring a large time commitment or much effort. Brian Seam ’16, nevertheless, sees the work load positively, responding, “I do think it’s a good idea because I know a lot of people take the AP English Seminar for the honors credit but wouldn’t bother if they had to take a class. This way, you’d be in a class with people who are really looking to improve.”
Bella Merchant ’17 echoed this approval, saying, “I think that [Honors English] is a great idea because it doesn’t make sense that we have honors [classes] in every single other department but not English. I think that it will be a really positive change.”