Palo Alto, a city associated with California’s association with technology, has recently decided to drop an honors biology class offered to freshmen. The same district just adopted an ethnic studies class for freshmen as a graduation requirement. The two decisions weren’t directly related and both have been in the works for several years, but it’s a pretty clear sign of things to come, at least here in California.
The decision to drop honors bio and combine it with regular biology for incoming freshmen is about “de-laning” which is another word for de-tracking.
The Palo Alto Unified School District is considering merging its biology and honors biology courses to create one “foundational” biology course, following other local districts that have made the move to eliminate some advanced classes.
While some students and parents worry the change could set…
