A typical student comes home on a Monday afternoon after taking all seven classes, which only occurs once in the usual school week.The weekend, a tedious C day, and now homework from all classes contributes to students suffering. On top of all of this, they now have to deal with an A day tomorrow. The decision to switch all weeks to the CABAB format was made in order to accommodate the late starts because of teacher development days, and therefore, maintain a consistent week structure. However, this creates an undue burden on students who struggle to stay on top of their work and don’t receive the academic help they deserve in a timely fashion.
Teachers and administrators may feel that we need a consistent week to stay organized and prepared, but in order to be prepared for the long week ahead, it is better to have academic lab earlier in the week with the former CBABA schedule. Instead of having an aclab right after the C day to ease with homework, students are expected to complete four classes worth of homework and studying in one night. Also, it doesn’t allow students the opportunity to visit teachers for help until half way through the week. Instead of having an aclab to visit teachers before a test, students with tests on that Tuesday lose the opportunity for help. Additionally, if a student misses a test on the previous Thursday or Friday the earliest students can make up that test is on Wednesday; a 5-6 day turnaround.
“I don’t like mixing the C days with block days anyway,” Mr. Tom Schaefer said. “If we are going to do the mix I don’t think having lab on Wednesdays and Fridays is the best use of it. I think having it in the beginning [of the week] before all of your classes is more beneficial. I don’t feel that this is the most effective setup for the students.”
However, some feel that the new system provides advantages to students with the new CABAB format. They say the consistent schedule benefits student learning.
“I like the new system, it gives students a chance to get work done before the weekend,” Ms. Angela Greminger said. “We end the week on a more laid back kind of day.”
The change in week format truly only has benefit for the administration and teachers. Students are able to adapt to changing weeks as they will have to do in college. However, now students are denied the ability to receive help in an adequate amount of time. Putting aclab on a Friday reduces its productivity and therefore the system continues to worsen students’ academic lab habits.