DGS offers many Advanced Placement courses for students to take, but the social studies department desperately needs to include more. While AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics and AP Psychology are all under the umbrella of social studies, these classes have a heavy math and science feel, respectively.

As a result, students looking to challenge themselves in the realm of history and politics have few options compared to those interested in math or science. Only three classes truly fit that bill: AP U.S. History, AP European History and AP U.S. Government and Politics. Adding a few more classes would go a long way for our social studies inclined students.

Incoming freshmen especially have few opportunities to challenge themselves in social studies. Global Connections is a mandatory class, and so those who were in honors classes in middle schools are left hanging. Of course, not all middle schools offer honors social studies classes. That said, there are students in these regular classes that would be absolutely capable of taking an AP level course freshman year.

APs are also extremely valuable in general, as the classes allow students to earn college credits during high school. Math offers Calculus 3 for a dual credit opportunity, yet only three classes in social studies are truly historically and politically oriented, and one of them is only a semester long. It’s clear that social studies is left out to dry when it comes to earning college credit.

AP U.S. Government and Politics is also only one semester long, and so it feels a little shallow compared to other APs. Comparative Government would pair well with it and would also offer a new perspective on the topic of government. The social studies APs lack perspective outside of the western world, so this could add some much needed diversity

Social studies classes are truly important to help us understand the world as a whole. Offering more AP’s within the realm of social studies will allow students to explore the subject area in new and fresh ways.