Anticipating the 2023-2024 school year, Tologs are getting ready to say goodbye to Advanced Placement (AP) Government and Politics and welcome a new government SRP class revolving around social justice and advocacy. Though many Tologs have heard about the switch, some are still unsure of what this class really means. 

“The activism and advocacy government course is going to focus on participatory aspects of democracy and trying to get individuals interested in involving themselves in the political and democratic process,” Mr. Eric McGee, head of FSH’s Social Studies department, said.

However, AP Government and Politics was by no means a deficient course. It offered an opportunity for students looking to study the US government in-depth, get a GPA boost and the opportunity to take an AP test. For this reason, the new course will not be completely replacing the subject matter — rather, building upon it. 

“In the past few years we haven’t seen much dedication to the exam, and if we have this course, [it’s] really limited in terms of ‘I can only address this type of curriculum so a student can pass the [AP] test based off that curriculum,’ and a majority of students aren’t super interested in taking the AP test itself… we’re kind of freeing ourselves from the AP system,” Social Studies teacher Ms. Stephanie Gonzalez-Doo said.

There will be two different options for taking this course: Honors Government and the Activism and Advocacy SRP course.

“Activism and Advocacy will allow students to select a political topic or movement that they want to study in-depth and participate in– to some extent– so one of the things they’ll be doing is going out into the world and seeing how government works,” Ms. Nora Murphy, FSH Librarian, said.

Adding a new SRP course into our curriculum can create a new pathway for students who may be passionate about this new subject matter, and benefit from an active and engaging course.

“Good education is responsive, it’s differentiative for a bunch of different students, so when we think about it, we think about it in different points of access, what are different opportunities we can put out so every student can be successful,” Mr. Daniel Rios, Assistant Principal of Curriculum & Instruction said.

FSH’s choice to teach government in a worldly and captivating manner will push students to participate in and understand multiple different government systems and political processes, while also studying modern complexities in government. 

“You can definitely pursue issues with social justice, but also anything related to activism, advocacy, certain issues you may want to address, and can understand how different systems are at play both locally, nationally, and globally which you have real possibilities of getting involved in,” Ms. Gonzalez-Doo said.

What’s in store for Tologs is definitely something to look forward to, in not only anticipating the course itself but all the benefits that can come out of a deeper understanding of the government’s functionality before going out into the world.