When choosing classes at the beginning of freshmen year, it’s impossible to not be in awe of the sheer number of STEM classes available. With the chance to test into math levels as high as Honors Calculus BC, or get a jump in science through an Honors course in physics, it’s easy to see why. Pulse racing from the variety of STEM classes you could take and excited by the possibilities for history and English, you scroll down and are disappointed by only two options for history and even worse, there’s no differentiation for English. And while there are a wide variety of art classes to take, the number of humanities classes compared to that of STEM classes is an indicator that Lakeside is a more STEM-focused school.

The main reason why Lakeside seems to lean more heavily into STEM is its lack of Honors courses in English and history. While anyone taking the math courses can choose between normal, Accelerated, and even Honors, the same differentiation doesn’t exist in the liberal arts classes. This means English classes have to cover a larger range of difficulty, as shown by the freshman class reading Patron Saints of Nothing, which has a Lexile reading level of 840, and Romeo and Juliet, which has a Lexile level of 1490. This leaves many students feeling like their English class is either far too easy or too hard while students who enjoy English feel like they’re not having a class tailored to their preferences.

Meanwhile, it’s impossible for students to try to “get ahead” in English or history levels because they’re automatically put into one based on their grade. While freshmen can place into courses above their level by either taking a summer course or even testing out at the beginning of the school year, summer options are more limited for humanities classes and students cannot test out of them.  This is a problem because an underclassman in English can only learn a few forms of writing in their classes: realistic fiction, personal essays, and poetry. If a student wants to accelerate their learning of writing styles such as nonfiction or journalism, there’s no option for them until they reach junior year, even if their skills in the previous English classes don’t directly correlate to the courses they want to take. Meanwhile, a student who wanted to take Honors Geometry could get ahead in math by testing out of Algebra II. While math classes build upon each other, and one could simply not understand Honors Geometry without having taken or studied Algebra 2, many of the English classes don’t build upon each other. Someone wanting to learn how to write nonfiction doesn’t need to learn poetry in freshman year to give them a different grasp on writing. And while it’s great that the earlier English classes give students an opportunity to learn various forms of writing, it’s not diverse enough for students to fully pursue any of their interests.

Meanwhile, take Tesla STEM, rated as the 10th best STEM school in the country. Like Lakeside, they still require 4 years of English, 3 years of history, and 3 years of math — the basic requirement for any college. According to their course catalog, Tesla also offers Multivariate Calculus, a difficult math class not typically offered in public schools. As a result, Tesla is an outstanding school with high matriculation to well renowned STEM colleges. Meanwhile, Lakeside offers Multivariable Calculus, Statistics and Probability along with Linear Algebra — going above and beyond student needs. Overall, this vast range of high-level math classes Lakeside offers indicates that Lakeside is more STEM-focused.

While it’s true Lakeside does have far more English electives than they do math, it’s not a Lakeside-specific trait. For example, Overlake offers around 18 English and 15 history (depending on the year), compared to 9 math classes. Meanwhile, Eastside Prep offers 13 more English classes and 14 more history/social science classes than math, and it’s no mystery why. While both subjects come with various difficulties, English has the added trait of different styles such as nonfiction, journalism, and creative writing, and far more ways the course can be taught — meaning there are naturally more English electives at any school. The same applies for history, except with the added element of location and lens. So, unless you can analyze the Pythagorean Theorem with the Freudian approach or dissect its relation to gender and sexuality, there is only need for one math class with various levels.

Finally, Lakeside’s STEM classes give far more homework than any liberal arts classes. Math and science dole out homework every night, and even though their homework is technically ungraded, any senior on the first day of school will advise you to do it, complete with an anecdote on not understanding the material because they didn’t do the work.  Meanwhile, though English typically assigns a reading every night, history rarely gives out assignments. The amount of time spent on STEM classes is simply out of proportion to the time spent on liberal arts classes, showing STEM subjects at Lakeside are far more emphasized.

Overall, Lakeside puts more emphasis on STEM because of their host of STEM classes offered along with the rigorousness of those classes. With more STEM class options, and less liberal arts differentiation and homework, it’s clear that Lakeside is a STEM School.

When you are handed your schedule on the first day of school, every class is perfectly color-coded in 70-minute chunks. Upon a first scan, your course load seems pretty balanced: a mixture of math, science, English, history, and maybe an art or a language. However, when you analyze the Course Catalog and graduation requirements, you’ll realize that Lakeside places more of an emphasis on HASS (Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) than on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). 

Firstly, let’s unpack the Course Catalog. Lakeside offers a whopping 23 English courses, 24 arts (performing arts and visual arts included) courses, 20 language courses, and 22 history/social science courses. This brings our total up to 89 HASS courses! Comparatively, Lakeside provides 17 math courses, 14 science courses, and 6 computer science courses, with Honors and non-Honors classes differentiated in this tally, for a total of only 37 STEM courses.

And now, addressing the elephant in the room. Students often complain about Lakeside’s lack of Honors courses in HASS classes. However,  honors classes exist in STEM courses to differentiate the pacing of the class: non-Honors classes typically spend more time laying down the fundamentals, while Honors classes dive straight in, assuming students have already grasped the basics. HASS classes don’t really have fundamentals: one simply walks into the classroom with an open mind and some reading done for homework! In STEM classes, it’s “Did you grasp this concept correctly?” while in HASS classes, it’s “Which perspective(s) did you view this concept from?” This means that HASS classes are more accepting of students with diverse experiences with the subject; thus, there’s no point in separating students.

In fact, the lack of Honors classes in HASS courses at Lakeside makes it even more of a HASS-emphasizing school. What students learn in Fiction Writing will be completely different from what students learn in Asian American Studies, which means students have the option to take both. However, people who take Honors Precalculus will likely not take Accelerated Precalculus or Normal Precalculus because it’s essentially the same material, just with different depth and pacing. This, paired with the fact that there are already significantly more HASS courses than STEM courses, further emphasizes the gap between options for students.

As for the inability to “skip ahead” in HASS courses, ask yourself: what’s the point? An advanced math student who learned Algebra II five years ago doesn’t need to spend all year bored in a classroom, going over everything again. However, what students take away from a HASS classroom is uniquely dependent on the nuanced discussion and close reading done in class, rather than the after-school math or science program they took (or didn’t take) several years ago. 

Finally, let’s take a look at Lakeside’s graduation requirements. Lakesiders must complete four years of English, three years of history/social sciences, two years of art, and two years of languages. Meanwhile, students have to do three years of science and three years of math/computer science. Note that it is math OR computer science because although these two subjects are completely different conceptually, they’re somehow being lumped into the same thing. If that doesn’t scream “not a STEM school,” what does? Doing a little arithmetic tells us that, combined, Lakesiders  only need to complete 6 years of STEM courses, half of the requirement for HASS subjects.

If you’re still not convinced, let’s compare Lakeside to another school. Take BASIS Independent School, one of the most notoriously STEM-focused schools in the state. Starting from 6th grade, every student takes math, biology, physics, and chemistry every year until they graduate, with more STEM courses like computer science found under electives. At this school, students’ timetables clearly have  more STEM classes than HASS classes.  In comparison, Lakeside’s STEM course requirements pale in comparison to that standard.

Fewer courses, fewer options, less time — the numbers speak for themselves. It’s clear that Lakeside is more of a HASS school than a STEM school.