Middle School VS High School Courses: Is it an Advantage or Burden

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Marlee R., Co-Editor and Chief

Eighth grade students who take high school courses in middle school are pondering if it is an advantage or a burden.

Before taking a high school class in middle school, eighth-graders should know if they will be granted high school credit for taking the class. “Middle school credits don’t transfer to high school unless it’s a class that is specifically designated as a high school credit class, so my students who are in high school, physical science, are taking the same physical science class that students at high school are taking. Because of that, they can get credit in eighth grade for that high school class,” Dr. Lanman, STEM Physical Science teacher, said. If students take high school science or math classes in middle school, they are at an advantage to explore more involved classes in high school. Taking these classes can help them find their passion and make decisions for high school and college.

JC Booth offers quite a few classes students can take for high school credit: High School Physical Science, Algebra One, French One and Spanish One. “Spanish is the same way. If they are taking Spanish One in eighth grade, that is a high school credit class so they can get high school credit for that course. The only classes that I know of that carry over to high school are the high school physical science class, the Spanish one class, and maybe one or two of the math classes,” Dr Lanman said. 

Some 8th graders find downsides to taking these courses early, “They are having to deal with extra work as well as having to keep a lot more knowledge because of the accelerated rate,” high school science teacher Coach Ed said. These are some of the major cons of students taking high school courses in middle school. 

“I would say the pros of going and taking high school credit classes are, it gives you a better look when you’re in high school, and it gets you into better colleges and better careers later in life. The cons of taking them in middle school are, you’re in middle school taking high school classes, so there’s gonna be a lot of homework, and there’s the hard classes, but they do pay off,” eighth-grade student, Will Dingler said.