(April 8, 2005) -- It’s second semester of senior year. You already know what colleges you have been accepted to and you just want to kick back a bit. But instead, you have to worry about your senior project fieldwork, something that is of little value to students.

The fieldwork requires seniors to do a project that “stretches” their abilities, talents, interests, etc. However, it simply doesn’t make sense to force someone to learn something new. Even if the topic were of some interest to them prior to the project, it just becomes homework and something to dread at the end of the process.

Furthermore, the fieldwork should not be part of the English class curriculum as it has nothing to do with English. The research paper part of the senior project makes sense as it helps students sharpen their writing and researching skills. According to the Clark Web site, clarkmag.net, the senior project “allows each student the opportunity to demonstrate his/her years of educational experience.” While this holds true for the research paper, the field works doesn’t relate in any practical way to high school learning.

If students want to learn something new or help their community in some way, they do not need an English project to help push them along the way. They would receive more satisfaction if they did it on their own, in their own free time.

The fieldwork simply takes away time from English classes that can be used in a much more productive manner. Instead of spending about two weeks just presenting the projects in class, the time can be spent learning how to write well thought out essays or reading Shakespeare, skills that will actually help students after they graduate.