Why take organic chemistry in high school?

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There are many good reasons to take organic chemistry in high school. If you are planning on attending any number of college programs, they will require that you pass a sophomore level organic chemistry class; such programs as:
  • pre-medicine
  • pre-nursing
  • pre-pharmacy
  • chemistry
  • biochemistry
  • biology
  • chemical engineering
  • materials science
For many students within these majors, the inability to pass the class means they have to select college programs that were not their first choice. At Miami University, attrition rates in the two-semester organic chemistry sequence most typically taken by students ranges from 30-50% (Grove, Hershberger, & Bretz, 2008, p. 157). Joel Karty (2007), Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Elon University has similarly reported attrition rates of about 50% for his organic chemistry classes at Elon University, during the period of 2001-2004, before the implementation of a redesigned curriculum.  Still other researchers reported average combined failure and withdrawal rates for first and second semester organic chemistry at about 25% for the years 2010 through 2013 (Flynn, 2015, p. 206). Fortunately, the problem of high failure rate has not gone unnoticed by researchers in the field of chemical education. Countless articles have been contributed to journals with excellent analyses as to why students have such difficulty passing the course, and the research is insightful.

In reading the chemical education literature, it is readily apparent that the perceived difficulty of organic chemistry among undergraduates is not merely anecdotal.  Karty (2007, p. 1209) states, “Organic chemistry is a notorious class among undergraduates.  Its perceived difficulty seems to resonate across all majors”. Other researchers have lamented the fact that the course maintains an immutable reputation for difficulty. Grove, et al., (2008) observed, “As students watch peers struggle, the myth that organic chemistry is an impossible, unforgiving subject is regrettably passed on to the next generation of students” (p. 157). No other course in my own experience elicited this anxiety; neither physics, nor immunology - not even genetics. Within the first week of class the professor warned that in a typical semester, nearly half the class drops out by the second mid-term. Certainly I witnessed with the administration of each quiz and test, the lecture hall grew emptier and student angst escalated.

A high school primer course, addressing in depth the concepts and principles of organic reactions would go a long way in preparing students for their college sophomore year of organic chemistry. For most students, general chemistry is simply not enough of a prerequisite, as it does little to explain the why of reactivity.

References
Flynn, A.B. (2015). Structure and evaluation of flipped chemistry courses: organic & spectroscopy, large and small, first to third year, English and French. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16, 198-211.

Grove, N.P., Hershberger, J.W., & Bretz, S. L. (2008). Impact of a spiral organic curriculum on student attrition and learning. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 9, 157-162.

Karty, J.M., Gooch, G., & Bowman, B.G. (2007). Teaching a modified Hendrickson, Cram, and Hammond curriculum in organic chemistry: curriculum redesign to turn around student performance.  J. Chem. Educ., 84 (7), 1209-1216.
Image Credits:
Nanocar ball-and-stick model in banner retrieved from: http://news.rice.edu/2015/12/14/rice-to-enter-first-international-nanocar-race/
Nanocar with fullerene wheels in banner by Materialscientist at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16454593
Glucose ball-and-stick model retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/pathway-most-atp-per-glucose-molecule-608200