Last Wednesday, I found myself in a bind. I waited for my classmates to leave calculus so I could briefly chat with my teacher. When we were done talking about the homework, I made my way to my next class without delay. However, when I was halfway up the stairs, I heard the bell ring. I was late to psychology, and my teacher marked me tardy.
Last year, I didn’t worry about arriving late to the last period of the day. The schedule blocked out a ten-minute passing period between 5th and 7th periods on odd days and 6th and 8th periods on even days. I could’ve spoken longer with my teacher, taken a second to use the restroom and chatted with friends in the hallway. The new five-minute passing period leaves me with barely enough time to use the restroom.
So where did the five minutes go? The passing period and lunch each are five minutes shorter, and the activity period between the first two classes of the day is now an hour long. (The first class of the day ends at 9:55, and the second starts at 10:55. So I am treating all of the time in between as the activity period.)
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the administration typically designates the activity period as community time—a break period for students to relax, study or meet. On other days, students usually attend Monday meeting, Wednesday advisory and Friday assembly, respectively.
Last year, Monday meetings almost always finished with at least ten minutes left until the next class. During Wednesday advisory meetings, advisors usually cover important announcements within the first fifteen minutes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ve attended Model UN and led Economics Club meetings, and we have rarely, if ever, needed an extra ten minutes.
Friday assemblies often run over time. However, the issue is in the assemblies themselves and not the time that the schedule allots for them. I remember sitting in the Forum during last year’s Earth Day assembly when the bell rang: The presenter kept answering questions from students in the audience. Instead, the student moderators could have asked fewer questions or the presenter could have shortened her responses. We would have arrived at class on time and not sat through a prolonged assembly.
I have seen most Friday assemblies in the last three years drag on longer than the schedule designates. We already attend up to four 70-minute classes on Fridays, so longer assemblies just drain our energy for the rest of the day.
Lunch is annoyingly shorter too. I almost always bring lunch to school, but the other day I forgot my lunch on my kitchen counter and needed to go off campus to buy food. When the bell rang at 12:05 p.m., I went straight to the Forum, waited for three friends and walked with them to Satay Club, which is a block away from the school.
By the time I arrived at the restaurant, 15 minutes of the 45-minute lunch period had passed. In order to arrive back on campus ready for my next class, I could only spare about 20 minutes to order and eat. We don’t have a cafeteria, so every minute of lunch counts.
When administrators plan for next year, I hope that they revert the schedule back to last year’s. Students work under time constraints to complete homework, tests and essays. But we shouldn’t feel bored during drawn-out meetings and rushed during break times.