As the end of fourth block draws near, students begin to collect their papers and tuck them into their backpack. With nearly 30 minutes left in the day, being able to spend that half hour communicating with teachers, starting on homework or collaborating with peers is a relief. For students who have jobs, siblings they are responsible for or family events, even 30 minutes is very beneficial. Sadly, students’ relief is short-lived for a teacher reminds them ACE has been replaced with CAPPS today. 

From my hours spent within the class, CAPPS is meant to prepare students for academic and social life in college, life beyond school walls and aspects within these subjects. As a student who does not want to attend college, has access to guidance counselors and relies on time to communicate with teachers face-to-face, CAPPS proves to be a large waste of time. 

After the lesson is set up and students are ready, less than 25 minutes remain, factoring in five minutes to put up materials at the end of class, only 20 minutes are available at most. I do not find this to be an adequate amount of time to fully grasp the lesson and have time to discuss it. On top of that, many of the lessons or activities taught are reviews of what we have been told for many years, for example; the benefits of college. Students would benefit more if CAPPS was dissolved. 

Teachers say, though we may not use everything we learn today in our futures, our classes prepare us socially, academically and cognitively for our careers and college. If this is true, as well as having the opportunity to talk to a guidance counselor frequently, more than enough resources are provided for future-readiness.

Although I recognize our school cannot directly control whether or not we are required to attend CAPPS classes, I believe we as students should give our input and experience with the class. Our latest CAPPS class involved collaborating together to decorate our classroom doors, every student I discussed the lesson plan with were less than impressed. Although it was meant to be a teamwork activity, it was easy for students to not directly participate but rather fade into the background. From what I’ve witnessed and heard, this is very common in CAPPS classrooms. 

CAPPS is not a class that is beneficial to students in the short or long run. We regularly participate in team-building activities in other classrooms and guidance counselors interact with us and are available to us to discuss our future plans and aspirations, because of this, I feel the sole purpose of CAPPS is defeated. I would much rather be able to focus my time on current studies and communication with teachers.