Kylie Hansen is petitioning for a revision of Freshman Transition and World History (basically that means that those two classes need to be changed).

By signing, you are agreeing to the following:

1. Freshman Transition be only required for students with low reading scores. -To show this, a reading test for 8th graders at the end of the school year can be implemented.

OR

2. Freshman Transition be split into two semesters, one for reading and the other for career/life activities.
3. World History be raised from semester long to year long.

OR

4. Have yearlong world History be an elective, but a required credit, much like Health and Health Occupations. Students could decide whether to take a semester or year class.

For example: If a student did not pass the reading test and had to take the reading semester of FT, it might look like this- 1 semester of World History, 1 semester of reading FT, and 1 semester of career FT. If a student passed the reading test, it might look like this- 1 semester of career FT, 1 year of World History; or 1 semester of career FT, 1 semester of World History, and 1 semester of an extra elective.

Read the full petition text below:

Dear Dr. Dobbs,

I, Kylie Hansen, have come to a conclusion over the past year as a Freshman at Twin Falls High School. Before I reveal my thoughts and ideas, I would like to make sure we are on the same page. Idaho students have very low reading ability, and to raise their reading scores, a class called Freshman Transition was implemented. Now for my conclusion- I believe that Freshman Transition is a very unfair class. Some students have no need to improve their reading skills. Some students even have so high a score that such a class would have little to no effect. The problem does not lie in the class itself; it lies in how all freshmen are required to take it. I suggest that a reading test be taken at the end of 8th grade. That test would tell whether or not the student is required to take Freshman Transition.
However, I understand that reading is not all of Freshman Transition. There are also the career and personality activities. I recommend those to be done through advisory, but if that does not work, I have a different suggestion. Freshman Transition could be split into two separate classes (semesters). One would cover the reading part and the other the rest. This would give students that do not need the reading help an extra elective, which I recommend be filled with yearlong World History.
That is another problem I noticed. Students get around four or more years of U.S. History in their school career. History other than the U.S. is only taught for basically two years. The world has a much longer and richer history than the United States, so taking twice as many years of U.S. History does not make much sense.
By combining the above two thoughts, I believe a better education experience for students can be provided. I petition the below items:

1. Freshman Transition be only required for students with low reading scores.

-To show this, a reading test for 8th graders at the end of the school year can be implemented.

OR
2. Freshman Transition be split into two semesters, one for reading and the other for career activities.
3. World History be raised from semester long to year long.
OR
4. Have yearlong world History be an elective, but a required credit, much like Health and Health Occupations. Students could decide whether to take a semester or year class.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you consider my petition.