What Uni thinks of getting rid of subbie year

The issue of getting rid of the subbie class has been one of the most discussed topics from the Strategic Vision Task Force Report that Jeff Walkington sent out in April. Although many students had positive things to say about subbie year, they did not vehemently oppose its suggested removal.

Many people viewed subbie year as a useful transition period from middle school into high school that allowed them to better adjust to freshman year.

“I think if we don’t have subbie year and we move that [subbie year] to freshman year there would be too much on our plate for people to adjust, especially because Uni is a different school culture from other public schools,” said Junior Anupam Sharma.

Freshman Neha Alluru thought that it was good to have a year where “most of the grades don’t count so you’re just getting used to the atmosphere and getting to know people.”

Transfer students have different opinions on whether or not having subbie year has made a difference in their Uni experience.

Alex Anukwu, a sophomore who transferred this year, believes that he’s had a different experience from his classmates because he didn’t have a subbie year.

“I think I’ve adjusted well enough in some aspects but if I were to be here subbie year I would have had a better time. Socially, I feel like everyone developed their friend groups already and I just had to try and squeeze into one.”

Academically, Anukwu also believes having subbie year would have made a difference.

“I can easily tell where I’m falling behind compared to the other students and sometimes I wonder if it would have been the same if I had came here earlier or not.”

Freshman Salma El-Naggar agrees with Anukwu.

“It takes me a lot longer to finish my work compared to them where they get it easier. I feel like because I also skipped the math class (…) I kind of have to put more effort [in].”

However, other transfers believe that subbie year doesn’t really matter.

“I don’t think Subbie year is necessary. I think you can make everything that happens in subbie year that’s beneficial, I think you can put that in freshman year. I honestly don’t think that 8th grade makes anything any better,” says senior Lauren Monahan.

Monahan believes that getting rid of subbie year would actually be beneficial to Uni.

“I’m glad I transferred because I think there’s a lot of stress placed on subbie year that’s unnecessary and (…) just making Uni High a high school and just getting rid of that would make it better cause I don’t really see many benefits to subbie year.”

Many teachers also have opinions about eliminating subbie year. Subbie history teacher Janet Morford believes that subbie year is a crucial part of students success at Uni.

“I’ve taught subfreshman year for seven years and I’ve seen how immensely they [subfreshman] mature from the beginning of subfreshman year to the end of subfreshman year. I think there’s a great deal of value in what they’re taught during that time.”

German teacher Paul Weilmuenster agrees with many of the students remarks in that he believes subbie year is a good “bridge year” because most subfreshman grades are not counted as part of the high school transcript.

Chemistry teacher David Bergandine believes that there can be reasons for and against the removal of subbies, but ultimately those reasons need to be shown.

“I think whether or not they [subbies] remain is something that needs to be demonstrated and not simply decided… There are practical reasons why it’s good for them to be here, but there are also very practical reasons for them not being here, but they need to be something that we can demonstrate factually will actually improve the nature of the educational program at this school.”