Ever wonder how regular classes become honors classes? Co-spread editor Kaitlyn Tom investigates this process that involves the teachers of the classes as well as some administration members. Staff photo: Kaitlyn Tom.

By Kaitlyn Tom

Menlo has a plethora of honors classes already in place and it seems that more are added each year. However, the process through which a class receives that 0.3 grade bump is one that many students don’t know much about.

The process typically begins within the department of the class that is being considered to become an honors class. “The teacher or the department chair from that class would make the case to meet with the academic counselor,” Upper School Director John Schafer said.

Teachers must submit a proposal requesting for their class to be made into an honors class or have an honors option. “I had to make a case that a person getting honors [in the class] would be worthy of getting honors,” Upper School history teacher Peter Brown said. Brown is referring to his Ideology class, which is one of the classes at Menlo with an honors track option.

Typically, the decision is made with an academic counselor, but that is not always possible. “I like to take it to the academic counselor, so we make that decision together,” Schafer said. “That’s not always the case. Sometimes we don’t have time together with the academic counselor because we’ve got meetings scheduled, we have to watch these classes and make a decision and what not, but generally speaking that’s how I like it to be,” Schafer said.

The parameters required to grant a class an honors credit varies between departments. “In English, where we have honors classes and non-honors classes, the honors class will move at a brisker pace. They have a higher level of expectation of rigorous analysis. They may wrestle with more complex text,” Schafer said. “The math folks would probably say the honors math classes are moving at a faster pace, rely more on student initiative and math intuition, [and] cover material in a greater depth.”

Generally, for history electives, including Ideology, there will typically be an honors and non-honors option for students to choose between. “[The honors option students] have to […] do a paper that they wouldn’t have had to do otherwise,” Brown said. A few other classes have different requirements, but still have to write a paper.

The honors option is available to students so that students interested in those particular subjects can receive greater recognition for their interest. “[The honors option is] a way to allow students to take courses and to differentiate themselves in courses without necessarily having to take an AP,” Brown said.

In classes where an honors option is available, instead of signing up for the class as an honors class during the time where students register for classes, students get to decide while taking the course. “The kids don’t declare [to have the honors option] until they’re about a month into the class. […] I like that they get to make that choice once they’re in the class and to see what the class is like and how much time they want to devote into it,” Brown said.

The majority of students that take classes with an honors option choose to take advantage of the option. In Brown’s ideology class, 12 out of the 16 students have opted in to take the honors track.

The process for a non-honors class to become an honors class doesn’t require very many steps, but each class is thoroughly vetted to ensure a clear distinction between honors and non-honors classes at Menlo.