Picking courses for the school year is always difficult- in a limited timeframe, students are asked to map out the entirety of their course selection for the following year. Oftentimes, students have issues determining the electives they’d like to take, but sometimes schools do not provide courses that students would truly like to take. While Manchester provides many different classes, the actual range and selection of electives is lacking to some, and falls short of some students’ needs in preparing to enter the modern day workforce. Therefore, this publication suggests some courses that could better prepare students for the modern day workforce and 21st century life in a changing economic and political atmosphere.

The contents of Manchester’s language courses are impressive, especially the Spanish program and Spanish Immersion. However, some students are left disappointed that more languages are not offered. Not a single language originating outside of Europe is offered, nor are any Slavic languages. This is not ideal, as in the modern world large swaths of Earth’s population speak Arabic, Mandarin or Russian. This stands in stark contrast to Manchester’s stellar business program, fully preparing students for the realities of domestic business interaction- while leaving them completely unprepared for the reality of international business. Additionally, a surge in Asian pop culture has generated a sizable interest in Japanese and Korean, but no such classes are available to students who would like to apply their interest to the study of a foreign language.

Leaps in technology continue to create new jobs in the lucrative career of software development. In fact, software development careers make up several of the top ten entries in Glassdoor.com’s list of the 50 hottest careers of 2021. With the growing industries of mobile app, video game, and software development becoming more prominent with each passing year, it only makes sense for Manchester to adjust accordingly. Why not offer classes in game design, app development, or software engineering? It’s not just interested students that stand to benefit from such a move; these classes could be taught with a service learning edge, or as a means of producing educational software for other teachers to use. 

Of course, we must acknowledge that there are several factors that determine what classes are offered at Manchester, ranging from student interest, teacher availability, budgeting, resources, and world-changing pandemics. While hoping for these classes is mostly just wishful thinking, the addition of even just one of these proposed electives would help make course sign-ups in February more exciting for students looking for learning opportunities relevant to them.