At PHS, students have to take four English credits, which means that they have to take English all four years. Winnacunnet High School, Oyster River High School, and Exeter High School require four English credits as well. Claire Hoag, a senior at PHS, says she agrees that English is an important course and should be taken all four years.

ORHS requires less social studies and science credits than PHS. At PHS students are required to have three credits of social studies and three credits of science. ORHS only requires 2.5 credits of social studies and two credits of science.

Which school has the right idea? In Hoag’s opinion, more social studies courses should be required in high school. When asked what classes she thinks should be required, she said civics.

While chemistry is required by the majority of four-year colleges, local high schools don’t require the course for graduation. Hoag says that not every student plans on four-year college, and other science classes, such as physics, would be more beneficial.

PHS only requires students to have one fine arts credit for graduation. Many classes are offered for this requirement, such as art, architecture, design classes, etc. At EHS, students must have two art credits. In a lot of students’ and teachers’ opinions, art classes are more for enjoyment and can take away from classes that teach fundamental life skills. Hoag agrees with these statements and thinks art credits at PHS are perfect as is. Students can always elect to take more.

EHS also requires gym class for freshman and sophomore year, while PHS only requires it freshman year. Majority of students agree with this because gym can be torture for kids that don’t enjoy it. Also, students and teachers agree that it takes away from time that could be spent in a classroom.  

For the most part, PHS’s graduation requirements are pretty similar to other local high schools. But which school has the best idea for course requirements? Does the fact that PHS has block scheduling every day affect the course requirements?