Due to history teacher Drew Maddock’s departure from Harvard-Westlake, next year’s seniors will not be able to take Advanced Placement World History as their history or elective course.
Maddock’s replacement will need a year in order to prepare the curriculum and materials that are needed to teach the course, History Department Head Katherine Holmes-Chuba said.
“AP World is a complex course,” Holmes-Chuba said. “It is the history of the world. It took [Maddock] more than a year to fully prepare for the course, and I don’t want to offer a course that isn’t up to our standards.”
Twelve students had enrolled in the class for next year, and some are disappointed it won’t be offered.
Lily Beckinsale-Sheen ’17, who was going to take the course next year, said it is disheartening, especially because she feels like the school offers more honors and AP opportunities for STEM-oriented students than it does for those interested in the humanities.
“I am not STEM-minded whatsoever,” Beckinsale-Sheen said. “So my choice of courses is seriously limited. It’s always bothered me that it seems like this school opens up more doors to students who excel in math and science, especially to the younger grades.”
Beckinsale-Sheen said that although AP World History was the course she was most excited to take in her senior year, she is considering taking AP Art History and AP U.S. Government.