<p>At my kids’ HS, it isn’t that kids fear physics, it’s that the natural progression is Biology freshman year, Chemistry, Environmental/Earth science or Anatomy & Physiology sophomore year, AP Bio or one of the courses not taken in sophomore year junior year, and then Physics senior year. I think the thought process is that they want the kids to have as much math as possible before taking physics. By senior year, kids who aren’t headed into the sciences are wondering if they really need that 4th year of science. Kids who decide to stop with 3 years of science mostly end up not taking physics. At the HS in the next town down, physics is the first course and is predominantly a freshman course (obviously this is not a calculus based or heavy math physics course), so the vast majority of kids take it.</p>