They have a choice and generally choose the simpler subject. LA Unified School District does not have 9th grade science and does not teach Physics until the 12th. There is a reform movement out. Now integrated science curriculum. Everybody says kids nowadays know less than they did 10 yrs.
Some teachers wear their ignorance of science as a badge of honor.
Many teachers just don't care . But he is more interested in just having students take Physics period Art Artschiller To go on to Univ. We think that kids know now what they want to be. In Turkey all students take the same college bound courses and thus more women their go into science. Part of our job is to make people interested in Physics.