Students from Mabry Middle School have been coming over to Chapman to take high school classes since 2021.

Since students have started doing this, there have been a lot of conflicts not only for high school students but also for the students from Mabry.

Because Chapman uses the block schedule, each student has four classes 90-minute classes per day.. Also, certain classes are only offered at a certain time during the day due to teachers’ other classes and planning period. So if a Chapman student wants or needs to take a class that is offered to the middle school students, he/she may not be able to take the class because the middle school students take all the spots.

Further, for students to graduate with a high school diploma, they need four math credits. If students from Mabry already have two math credits from classes at Mabry, and then come over to the high school to take a math class. 

By the time they are a freshman they will already have three out of four math credits needed to graduate. 

This could mean that students could feel forced to graduate early. If they choose not to graduate early and do not continue to take rigorous courses, by the time they get to college, they may have forgotten everything they have learned from all those middle school math classes.

 When I took these high school classes as a middle schooler, I felt like I could not enjoy my middle school years due to all the harder classes I was taking. These harder classes we are offering to the middle schoolers could be causing more stress and problems for the high school students and middle school students. 

I think we should stop offering high school classes to middle schoolers, not only because of class conflicts, but just for everyone’s long term benefits, since it causes conflict and stress for each side.