Presented with a menu of over two dozen elective courses, ranging from comparative religion to creative writing, seniors Philip Gary and Shoshana Lew decided one was missing from the list.

“Phil and Shoshi came to me and said they wanted a U.S. history elective,” said Dr. David Kobrin, Chair of the history department, which had planned to offer seniors elective courses in art history, economics and psychology, but no continuation of the core history curriculum.

“When we studied U.S. history in grades nine and ten, we didn’t have time to go past World War I. Some seniors wanted to pursue a study of the events that have happened between World War II and the present,” Gary said.

According to Kobrin, Gary and Lew identified a core of seniors who wanted a course in modern U.S. history, and the history department replaced the economics elective with an honors elective course called “U.S. as a World Power.”

“The history department encourages students to suggest what they want to take, so long as the suggestions are challenging and appropriate,” Kobrin said.

The guidelines for launching new senior electives are “fairly loose”, said Dean Roslyn Landy.

“If there is a teacher to teach a course and enough kids who want it, we will make every attempt to run the course,” she said.

Gary was impressed by the openness to suggestions.

“I was surprised how easy it was to present our idea,” said Gary. “The input of students who take initiative was very much welcomed.”

This case demonstrates the expectation with which seniors regard their first opportunity to mold more than half of their course-load—up to five subjects—to their personal academic interests.

Explaining why there are so few required courses senior year, Landy said, “In grades nine through eleven, students complete their state requirements, except for English. During that time, they have little freedom to choose the courses they want, so we like to allow some choice for one semester.”

The flexibility of the schedule is appreciated.

“For the first time ever, I have the ability to build my schedule around my own identity,” said senior Jon Mervis.

Landy voiced a similar opinion.

“It’s the first time the kids get a chance to make these choices, and it’s like going to a candy store,” she said.

But at the same time, many seniors find it difficult to take full advantage of this freedom.

Seniors are not required to take science or math courses, but in the current senior class of 75 students, enrollment in science courses is 72, and in math, 69. Twenty seniors decided to take the honors history elective, and 36 chose to continue Spanish or French studies into their senior year.

Perhaps the most telling statistic is that only 27 seniors signed up for a free period.

Why do so many take on such rigorous electives? According to guidance counselor Phyllis Homes, a number of seniors spoke with her about choosing electives that will strengthen their chan-ces of getting into a competitive college.

“Seniors want to know what colleges are looking for, which courses are strongest,” she said. “They know how competitive it is to get into college, and I encourage them to take competitive classes. They should take something they really want, but the strongest program possible is what colleges want.”

Seniors have the option of taking one class pass/fail (a student needs a 75 percent average to receive a pass).

This was intended to further the JDS mission of promoting torah l’shmah, learning for learning’s sake, but “most competitive students probably won’t take classes pass/fail,” said Landy.

According to Homes, “It’s sad because I love the idea of the pass/fail option for students who want to take a subject that they might not be so strong in, but frankly pass/fail does not make students competitive to colleges.”

Some seniors were unhappy that courses they had been hoping to take were not offered.

Senior Ruth Fliflet was among those who were disappointed that art history was eliminated because of under enrollment.

“I felt that there was a wide range of options initially, but not all of them ended up becoming classes,” she said. “Because of class size rules, the wide range was diminished.”

A new, one-semester physics requirement, along with the requisite human development courses and other physical education credits, contribute to increasingly packed senior schedules, leaving less room for pursuing newer electives.

Also, a Montgomery County mandate that students take four years of math may lead JDS to adopt a senior math requirement. No such requirement is planned at present, according to Landy.

While concerns such as maintaining a competitive transcript hinder some seniors’ ability to choose their electives out of torah l’shmah, the greatest difficulty for many seniors is having too many courses that they want to take. Fliflet articulated a common refrain among seniors: “I needed more class periods.”