The Latin School of Chicago is supposed to be our opposite, our rival, the school we battle to be the champions of Clark Street, the institution we are told should be our mortal enemies. But when it comes to academics, should we replicate their practices or reject them?

 At the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, Latin introduced “Earned Honors” for juniors, an advanced English course that juniors could opt-in to for an advanced English credit. Earned Honors is the first credit of its kind at Latin, and no advanced English options had previously been offered for Latin students. Parker is in a similar position: our only classes with advanced titles are in the math, science, and foreign language departments, and students who are drawn more towards humanities feel underrepresented by the Parker curriculum. So, should Parker take after Latin and incorporate something like Earned Honors, or should we stop focusing so much on the title of a class and instead on the skills that we learn?

According to an article published in “The Latin Forum,” unlike other advanced classes, Earned Honors is available to all Latin juniors. The article also says that, to qualify for honors, students must submit a 500-800 word piece in addition to every major assignment in their respective English class, synthesizing what they’ve learned from the assigned text with an outside source of their choosing. While Latin students are happy that Earned Honors is an option, many are frustrated with how strict the guidelines around Earned Honors are. The article says that students are graded on a scale from one to four, and if a student earns a two or two threes on any assignment, they don’t earn Honors. With these strict guidelines and new required independence, Earned Honors feels like it’s working against students instead of for students, according to another “Forum” article.

So, should the Earned Honors epidemic make its way up Clark Street? No. While I completely understand that having most advanced credits for math and science classes caterers mostly to those with STEM-oriented brains, introducing advanced English credits isn’t the equity-ensuring solution some might think it is. Instead, incorporating something similar to Earned Honors would take away from so many aspects of the progressive education Parker prides itself on. By separating students in yet another subject, we would be doubting that the already carefully crafted curriculum is sufficient for any quality synthesis of literature and reality, and doubting the progressive methodology that has historically occupied English classrooms at Parker. 

Earned Honors at Parker would also add another facet of academic separation and pressure at Parker. In my experience, the Upper School already has an extremely competitive environment, with some students, including myself, enrolling in advanced classes not just to be academically challenged, but because of pressures to maximize academic rigor. At Parker, we don’t need another advanced class, another opportunity for motivated students to pressure themselves into unnecessary rigor. While Earned Honors may look like another gold star on one student’s transcript, it makes other students look unmotivated or underachieving for not participating in Earned Honors, which would happen to an abundance of students when Earned Honors is so hard to maintain. With an English curriculum so rigorous that adequately prepares students for college and beyond, there is no need to create further rigor just for an extra award on a transcript. 

At Parker, there are so many ways to stimulate humanities centered brains beyond classes and advanced credits. One of the most unique things about Parker is its plethora of extracurricular activities, spanning from business-oriented clubs to high quality publications. If a student truly strives for advanced credit or further recognition for their achievements in the humanities, they should participate in extracurriculars that align with their interests and help them further develop an advanced skillset. You want to show off your interest in accelerated history? Join a club like Model UN to further not only your knowledge of historical and current events, but public speaking and collaboration, too. Interested in writing more than a typical English class? Write an essay for “SCOUT,” a poem for “Phaedrus,” or even an article for “The Weekly.” Do you really crave the synthesis to an outside source that is required in Earned Honors? Sign up for an independent study, analyze texts of your choosing, and synthesize them with an outside source. There are so many ways to enhance one’s English learning without putting another student down, showing that there really is no need for something like Earned Honors at Parker.

Students crave recognition for their work, that gold star on their transcript, or that extra boost to their GPA because of an advanced credit. But at Parker, where students and parents know coming into the school that advanced English isn’t offered, we shouldn’t start offering it now, and retreat from the pedagogies and philosophies that have so long been established just because an academic counterpart has decided otherwise.