Austin Weber and Nicholas McClure

8225 S. 59th Ave.

Laveen, AZ 85339
February 19, 2016
Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board
4502 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona
Dear PUHSD Governing Board,
For the past quarter my class has been learning about events in Europe and
Russia during the 20th century. We researched topics from Nazi Germany to Russian
architecture. Im writing to you about whether the sophomore curriculum should include
Russian literature next year.
I feel that we should still learn about Russian literature. During this unit I learned
many things that I didnt know before. It is also important that being an IB school that we
have knowledge about other countries and continents. Secondly the sophomore
curriculum is centered around different continents first starting in Africa then China and
now in Europe. If Europe was taken out a continent would be lost and this wouldnt
complete the whole world focus of the curriculum. Europe has been the continent with
the most enthusiasm from my class. Next year Russian literature should still be in the
sophomore curriculum.
There is still improvements that can be made to the curriculum for next year. In
all of our studies this year we have focused more on the historical aspect and less on
the english aspect. We havent learned what literature each continent has but how their
literature has been affected by historical events. This feels to me like another history
class and not an english class. The curriculum should focus more on writing and books
that were in these continents. Our class should read more books and write about those
books we read. I believe that this will improve our writing and english abilities. The
curriculum is not perfect and changes can be made.
Overall we support the Russian literature section in our english curriculum. The
changes we propose would only compliment the curriculum for more learning in the
future. Thank for you reading our letter and your time.
Sincerely,

Austin Weber and Nicholas McClure