Senior Makenzie White doesn’t have a teacher to watch her every move while taking a test. She doesn’t have a teacher assigning her homework every night. But the one thing she does have is motivation. Despite not having the class at Woodland, White decided to take on the challenge of independently studying Advanced Placement Comparative Government.
“I decided to take AP Comparative Government because I think it’s really interesting and if it was a class here I’d like to take it,” said White, “and because I was only taking two AP’s this year I wanted to take something else.”
As an active member of Woodland Regional’s Student Council, White had always been interested in politics. But she wanted to learn beyond the government in America.
“It focuses a lot on political parties within the countries, the economy, certain leaders, and movements within the government,” stated White.
Without a teacher instructing the class, White is responsible for learning the topics on her own.
“I ordered the textbooks and during my study, or my independent study, I basically just read the textbooks and then Mr. Tomlin, my advisor, answers any of the questions I have,” said White.
“I help her prepare by answering some of her questions,” said Christopher Tomlin, history teacher and White’s advisor, “she’s actually great at reading material and coming up with great questions.”
In order to prepare for the test, White needs self discipline to study, practice, and test without the encouragement of teacher and the fear of a bad grade.
“I probably spend at least an hour every night,” said White, ” and then on the weekend I spend about fix to six hours.”
“The first week I do the study guide book where I highlight and make flashcards, and then the second week I read from the textbook and take notes, and then the next day in class I take the test in class,” said White.
“I think it would be a good class at Woodland because I know a lot of other students that are interested in taking it,” said White,” and its hard to do it as an independent study because you have no teacher.”
“I think it’s a great opportunity because it looks like some of those aspects that aren’t normally looked at,” said Tomlin, “it gets into the GDP, GNP, of third world as compared to first world countries.”
As she continues to study and prepare for the test, White hopes that in the future this class will be offered at Woodland.
“I think this class is important because the more you read about it, the more you learn about everything around you in the world,” said White, “and I think its really important for people to know leaders throughout the country and not just your own country, so I think it could teach people a lot.”
This has been Jesse Erickson, WRHSmedia.
