In the great state of New York, the education system is one of the most rigid in the nation. This does have good and bad, while you may have one of the most highly recognized educations, there are a number of graduation requirements that you have to meet just to get your high school diploma. One such requirement is having four high school English credits.  It is expected that you take your standard 9-12 grade English classes with 11th grade being regents based. 

English class is one of the least controversial classes,not comparable to math or science being that some people are good at it and enjoy it and some people just aren’t. English is more of an annoyance to most students, with countless numbers of essays, vocabulary assignments, and books to read. A majority of what you learn in your highschool English classes goes to waste. And when you finish, while you may be able to write a standard three paragraph essay, almost no one knows how to write a resume, or a formal report, college essay, letter to appeal something, formal email, I could go on and on. Many other careers require a different form of writing or vocabulary than formal essays as well, and students leave highschool without a clue on how to address these other types of writing. 

English is crucial, knowing how to read and write is extremely important for basic communication. But basic literacy and writing is very well established by the time that you leave 8th grade, moreover not everyone will use these things later on. I do believe that English should continue to be taught throughout highschool, but I think it needs to take a different form than reading a book, then writing an essay about the book. I believe that from the time you enter highschool, your English class should be based on your career plans. Starting broad in 9th  and 10th grade with more general things being taught that everyone should know, then as students discover more about themselves and start knowing what they want to do with their lives, the English classes get more specific to the kind of writing and communication that they will need for their futures. But every single student should leave highschool at the very least having been taught how to write a resume and an email. 

I do understand that rudimentary English classes in this scenario would benefit those who are unsure of what they’d like to pursue, or who are struggling more with their use of the English language. They should still have the opportunity to have those classes, however I believe that the vast majority of students would benefit more from classes that more directly prepare them for their future.

English class is extremely important, and we should hold our education in the English language to a high standard. However, that does not mean that we should fill in the need to know the English language and how to use it with things that are essentially useless to us in the real world, but instead we should prepare ourselves more adequately for our futures.