Recently, as a rising sophomore to West Campus, I have been assigned the ever-so-tedious task of filling out pre-enrollment papers and choosing my schedule for the coming school year. Originally, I was excited for enrollment. I had wanted to see the wide options of classes that would explore my future career in writing.

However, the classes available to students shocked me and my friends who are interested in the arts. The list of classes was far from expected, with a vast majority of classes focused around science and tech courses, with very little wiggle-room for courses centered around the arts.

For those of us whose career goal is in the arts, too-bad-so-sad. The courses required just to be accepted to a four-year college, let alone to graduate high school, are almost all math and science courses with a brief dabble in the arts. You are stuck in a math course so you can go to that four-year college, even if it is for an arts major.

High school is about exploring ourselves, our options, what we want to do. During the enrollment process, I found out about the many limitations this school has for writers, and anyone interested in the arts in general. Kids who are interested in the arts are faced with the problem of possibly forfeiting a college career and a high school diploma if they follow their dream and passion and choose a writing course or an art course, rather than a fancy science or math course.

That being said, there are almost no courses available for those interested in the writing field. As a writer, I can choose between Journalism, Debate and Advanced English, that is if I want credit for the course.

Enrollment has simply opened my eyes to the stress and limitations of high school and has made me realize this only briefly skims what many schools have limited the arts to.

Things like afterschool programs are almost only available to kids who are either in sports or academics. Kids considering careers in the arts are often urged to try something else, or take time and “think it over.”

I love this school, I love this city but its failure to realize the wide diversity of student interests and its limitations to scientific and technical courses astounds me.

Stop limiting the arts to just simple hobbies or a way to knock off a credit or two. Realize its meaning, explore it and acknowledge it in the same way you do science and technology. The essence of the arts is open creativity, so let’s explore that in our school.