By Jacob Furst ’14, Commentary Editor

The June Term at Newark Academy is a two-week period following the completion of the spring semester in which students participate in “pass/fail” classes that depart from traditional core subjects.  Each student in the school, with the exception of seniors and those completing their immersion requirement, is required to enroll in a course, of which choices range everywhere from Raku ceramic firing to the sociology of poverty to a military history class.  Mr. Griffin, the June Term coordinator, describes the experience as “a relaxed alternative to final exams, but also a highly useful and educational experience.”  The launching of the June term program two years ago marked another step in the ongoing project of making Newark Academy more unique, global, and progressive.

However, some members of the Newark Academy community, students and faculty alike, remain frustrated by the program.  Some teachers have a very reasonable explanation for their discontent.  The two weeks that compose the June term were directly carved out of the academic school year.  Mr. Ryan, a chemistry teacher, confesses, “I had a very difficult time getting through all of the material as it was. When June Term was introduced, I had to cram a ton of information elsewhere in the year.”  In losing the two weeks, teachers lost six or seven hour-long classes, which can sometimes constitute an entire unit of study, especially in honors classes.  A  few teachers have misgivings over the actual content of the courses.  This isn’t the majority of teachers, but some have qualms. Mrs. Pursell, who teaches both geometry and pre-calculus, explains, “For the first year of the program I proposed to teach a three dimensional geometry class.  I thought it would be really cool, but the administration told me that the subject was too close to the class that I teach.”

By policy, the June Term classes cannot resemble core academic classes too closely, which bothers teachers who are passionate about their subject. But this policy can also be incredibly helpful to teachers who want to explore other matters outside of their core curriculum. Many teachers  actually prefer to teach something new and different, instead of what they teach each and every year. For example, Mrs. Schottland and Mr. Vinikoor are teaching a course called “Food and the American Identity”. Both are humanities teachers; whereas, in the regular school year they view history under the traditional lens, in June Term they get to explore the subject through a different point of view.

The student body opinion varies, as well. Some students simply do not enjoy the idea of taking a single class for two weeks. Seth Wilensky ’16 comments, “I get bored very easily, and I hate that we have to sit in one room discussing the same subject for such a long time.” To some students that resent June Term, however, the two weeks seem like a waste of precious time. They see these extra classes as unnecessary and not worth the sacrifice of other class time. However, some students really enjoy June Term. “It is a great transition from all the hard work of exam season to the joy of summer,” says Kevin Jiang ’15 and many students who had to endure IB and/or AP exams would agree with him. In this way, June Term really does live up to its charge. It is much more relaxed than a second round of exams or even regular class would be. But it is also very educational and many students commented that they learned about subject matter they loved during these two weeks.

The concept of June Term is commendable.  It allows students to learn about a subject they do not normally study.  But problems still persist in the eyes of some students and faculty. So what do you think: is June Term a staple of the Newark Academy education or does it still have a long road to go?

[poll id=”4″]

If this topic is particularly interesting to you, be sure to check out this video: What Do You Think Should Be Done to Fix June Term?