AP Chemistry teacher jennifer Brazier’s snack bar at study night. Photo courtesy of junior Aidan Field.
San Luis Obispo High School students have tons of options to choose from when deciding their classes. Next year, another option might be on the table for students: Organic Chemistry.
“Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds and all the reactions that carbon compounds can make, and then how to analyze compounds to see exactly what the structure of those molecules looks like, using advanced techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography, infrared spectrometry, it is ridiculously fun,” said chemistry teacher Jennifer Brazier.
Organic chemistry is known as one of the hardest college science classes, with a nationwide failure rate between 25 and 50 percent.
With that being said, why would anyone decide to take the class, especially in high school?
Organic chemistry is commonly a required prerequisite for students looking to go into medical school after their undergraduate-degree. This means that students who don’t pass Organic Chemistry in college are not able to go to medical school, or other specialized programs.
“In college, organic chemistry has a reputation of being one of the hardest classes to get through. Colleges often use organic chemistry as a weeder class, which means they’re trying to pull out all the weak students, the students they honestly think won’t make it to med school… It’s not that organic chemistry is impossible or ridiculously hard, it’s that it often packs so much material in such a short time that students don’t have the time to absorb it all,” said Brazier.
Having Organic chemistry at SLOHS would give students a huge advantage when it comes to taking that class in college.
“I’m interested in a minor Geochemistry with a major in Geology in college, as I’m really interested in paleontology and archaeology and these go hand in hand. I think having an Organic chemistry class on campus would be a great opportunity as it is commonly known as a ‘weeder’ class in college but learning some aspects of it early could make it easier later,” said AP chemistry student junior Charly Elston.
Where most college students might struggle in the class, SLOHS students who took the class already, would be able to cruise through it.
This has huge benefits in a collegiate environment. Students would be able to keep their GPA’s up, avoiding getting knocked down by such a difficult class, and they’d have more time to work on jobs or internships.
Additionally, colleges might look favorably upon SLOHS students applying who have Organic Chemistry on their transcripts. With having such a class already down, colleges will be able to see that students are accustomed to difficult coursework and complex sciences. This class might stand out, and help SLOHS applicants get ahead of applicants from other schools.
“[Having the class] would give me early exposure to certain topics and a biochemical understanding that’s so important for a number of career fields I could potentially go into. It would also strengthen problem-solving and critical thinking skills that are valuable in academic and professional settings,” said junior Chloe Hanshew.
But, what will the class at SLOHS look like?
The class would be two trimesters long. There’s no doubt that this class will be hard, but homework will be minimal and students will have plenty of in-class time to become knowledgeable on the subject.
Students would learn about Organic compounds and go into much greater detail than AP Chem and regular chemistry classes offer.
“The structure of the organic chemistry class is meant to expose students to extremely high levels of curriculum in a fun, relaxed way. So we do very, very hard science. I take the material from Harvard curriculum and MIT curriculum, but we do it in groups. There’s no stress about huge, heavy homework load or stressful tests, because we do group tests and the homework stays in class,” said Brazier.
It will give them a leg-up for college admissions and their collegiate experience and it will better prepare them for careers in medicine, biotechnology, and much more.
Sources: blogs.missouristate.edu
