Glen Rock High School underclassmen elective preference: Do students pick electives based on their favorite core class?

by Naomi Bashan and Louisa Billingsley

For the past 5 years, a theory in which some people have a “right” brain, and others have a “left” brain has spread online. Someone with a left brain is thought to be more methodical and analytical while people with right brains are thought to be more creative thinkers. This is just a theory, but, what if it wasn’t all nonsense? Wouldn’t someone with a preference for english, a class that is more creative than math, prefer to take an arts elective?

The class of 2024’s favorite core subjects this year were Science and English. These students mostly took art and media courses, such as Sculpture and Photography. Freshman year science, the all out favorite course among freshmen, is Biology. Biology, compared to Chemistry, is less math-intensive. This means that most of the freshmen prefer arts classes, and might sway away from math-based electives, if the trend continues. 

The class of 2023’s favorite core subject is Math. But through our data shown they were also more interested in more “right brain” electives, classes that would require analytical and methodical skills. This conveys that electives don’t really correlate with favorite core classes, but classes that these students may look forward to. While most students preferred math classes, the top choice electives were arts-related. 

Our data seems to contradict itself, suggesting that while the theory of a left/right brain could apply, it may not have anything to do with elective choices. While the class of 2024 seems to be a classic case of more creative core class preference with a creative elective outcome, the class of 2023 shows a case where this is no longer true.