Though it may seem that the school year has just begun, the time for course selections has already dawned upon Marymount High School. With course selections, though, also comes the occasionally pesky restrictions on AP and honors courses. The restrictions are as follows: sophomores may take up to 1 AP course and 3 honors, juniors may take 3 APs and 2 honors, while Seniors are limited to 4 APs and 1 honors course. Though the amount of allowed advanced courses does increase as one completes more years at Marymount, students may sometimes find themselves wanting to take on more than allowed. But, then again, one must also realize that the AP/Honors restrictions were created to ensure students maintain a healthy school/life balance. While restrictions on AP courses should not be removed, I believe that honors restrictions should be removed and that the appeal forms should be taken into far more consideration. 

To begin, it is important to understand the pros and cons of AP/Honors restrictions. They are intended to reduce stress, allow students to focus their energy on extracurricular pursuits, and encourage students to take classes for enrichment instead of college credit. This would be important for many because, very often, students are solely drawn to classes because they believe that taking them may create a more palatable candidate for college. As a result, AP/honors restrictions allow one to pause and realize they may not truly enjoy taking those classes. However, at other times, the restrictions can prove irritating. For example, I am a student who intends to major in the STEM fields and hence am drawn to AP courses regarding math and science. Yet, I also want to expand my writing skills and history knowledge at the same time in equally advanced settings. As a result, this has led me to fight to overcome the AP limit each year. The AP restrictions, though, might encourage a student like me to maybe consider one of the various honors English courses, or perhaps Gender Studies instead. Therefore, the AP restriction allows those interested in taking multiple AP courses to either reconsider their decisions or, if they are still willing to do so still, appeal. 

The honors restrictions, however, I do not agree with. In sophomore year, many students wish to take honors courses in languages, science, math, as well as English. However, this results in the taking of 4 honors courses that are not permitted by Marymount. Honors courses, while still rigorous, provide students with a chance to explore potential topics of interest at a more advanced level without overstressing them to a level that an AP course might. The honors restrictions, though, often make young sophomores forgo a course they may have wanted to take, creating more harm than good. 

However, appealing to take additional courses rarely works for students. During my junior year, I knew many students who were denied from taking 4 AP courses, despite that they were all perfectly capable of not only handling but flourishing within a rigorous course load. The AP/Honors appeal forms should allow more students to break the course restrictions so more are able to expand their educations. While the process of reviewing students should not allow all in, (as that would defeat the purpose of having courseload restrictions) it is important to offer those who truly do want to take more advanced courses to proceed.

Overall, the AP/honors restrictions possess both benefits as well as shortcomings. They allow students to perhaps focus their attention on other non-school related tasks, but they also prohibit them from taking on classes important for their futures. Hence, while Marymount should not drop AP restrictions due to the highly advanced level of these classes, our school should consider removing honors restrictions to allow younger grade levels of students to broaden their horizons in more advanced settings, as well as heighten the number of students allowed to surpass course limits.