Hello. My name is Jonathan Dodd, and I am a relatively new Physics teacher. At my school, Physics is only offered every other year. (Hard to believe, I know. I've been trying to change that.) Currently, I teach Biology and AP Biology, but I am working on my masters in Physics currently with UVA.
My school currently has about 650 students, and the Physics class is only offered every other year. (That's 1 class out of 4 semesters of classes) When I asked the guidance counselor why that was, the response was that there was not enough interest to offer more classes. Does anyone else have a school that is similar in size to mine with more Physics classes taught?
With the number of students in my school, I would expect to see at least 1 physics class offered each semester ( we run on a 4 x 4 block schedule). For the number of students that we send to college that are getting science related degrees, I would think that it would benefit them to have a high school physics class. (I majored in Biology, and had to take two classes of Physics.)
Does anyone think that it should be the guidance department that encourages students to take Physics?