My parents were surprised the day I got an acceptance letter from Brown University. They were then even more surprised when I proceeded to spend all 8 semesters there on the Dean's List, and graduate Magna *** Laude. But if this is how I performed at college, why did I so severely underachieve during high school?
The problem may also be related to my high school’s abysmal 60% graduation rate (150 graduates overall) as recently reported by state education department. This is worse than 90% of the state's public high schools with more than 50 students graduating per class, and of non-inner-city schools it is among the worst 4%. My town is fairly small, with two local colleges, and it attracts tourism to the surrounding area every year. So why is the graduation rate comparable to that of a crime-ridden inner-city school?
The teachers are not to blame, and neither is the state. To me, the problem stems from poorly used time at school and harmful discipline policies.
Much of a student's day in school is wasted. Six periods per day means 25 minutes switching classes. Add 35 minutes for lunch and a 55 minute PhysEd class or 55 minute study hall, and this amounts to 2 hours not spent in class, every school day. Compounding the problem is a 7:30 AM start time, which places unnecessary demands on adolescents with unique circadian sleeping rhythms and teachers who have to commute. Students taking buses have to wake up at 6 AM or earlier. Many classmates nodded off to sleep during class all the time when I went to school (5 years ago).
Physical Education is crucial for our overweight society, but student athletes - already under time constraints due to their sport - should not have to attend PE. They can receive PE grades for participation in their sport according to practice attendance, which is plenty of activity to stay in shape. It is arguable that adding 50 minutes of activity in phys ed. to the time an athlete spends at practice is actually too much activity. With fewer phys ed students overall, it can become the 5 period per week class that it should be, instead of the current 2-3 periods per week.
Breakfast and Lunch should be optional, and offered only before and after the school day. Mandatory lunch is a waste of the students' time and the school's resources. Faculty and staff have to supervise, and a large portion of behavioral problems occur during the lunch period. The cafeteria is expected to offer healthy, yet affordable, options on its menu, but students invariably choose the least healthy foods or refuse to eat at all. For students who stay after school for extra help, one meal is certainly not enough to sustain energy levels from 7 AM to 3 PM, and athletes doing this may even attend practice afterwards on an empty stomach. This is unhealthy.
For most students, study hall is spent being the least productive as possible - they draw, talk, play cards, sleep, take 15 minute bathroom breaks, or get a "library-pass" to use the internet in the library, rarely for educational purposes. The answer is not strict enforcement of study hall rules- study hall should simply be eliminated altogether. It lengthens an already too long school day and, like lunch, only provides time for student behavior to veer off track. Study hall is an utter waste of time.
Many students need extra help learning material. But it is unfair to require 7 hours of a student's day (two hours of which, as mentioned, is wasted) and then expect them to seek additional help at the end of the day. This is also very burdensome on the faculty. Shortening the school day to four-50 minute class periods - by eliminating mid-day lunch and study hall - would open up more time for extra help before and after school. Many type-A students only need the notes and a textbook to earn good grades. Others need close interaction with a teacher in small groups or even one-on-one. Ignoring the needs of these students, and teaching everyone the same way, is neglectful.
Finally, attendance policies at my high school have become overtly authoritarian and harmful to students’ attitudes. Instead of addressing problems they perpetuate them. A student arriving to class 5 minutes late must miss the entire period. He or she then misses material and falls behind. This policy fosters contempt of the disciplinary system and indifference toward the material that administrators seem willing to compromise as punishment. Next time, instead of showing up 5 minutes late the student may skip class entirely, resulting in suspension, which in turn breeds more contempt. The cycle becomes self-sustaining, and the result is one of the worst graduation rates in the state- 60%.
So many requirements and restrictions about student whereabouts makes school feel more like a prison than a place of education, which is ultimately what school is meant to be. This kind of scrutinization sends the message that learning is merely a byproduct of following arbitrary rules and schedules. In reality, learning should be the utmost priority, and policies should be made with enough creativity, and enough concern for students’ attitudes, that this goal isn’t compromised.
In one of my professors’ words, “Keep It Simple, Stupid.†Simplifying the school day to four classes, while eliminating study hall and mid-day lunch, and waiving PE for athletes, would shift the focus back to education. It sends a much more positive message to students- that school is worthwhile, and your opportunity to learn will not be compromised.
Tags: