The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

Opinion: Schedule must change, but not dramatically

Tim DeLouchrey
Sports Editor

To change or not to change? That is the question many students and faculty members alike at Westford Academy have begun to ask regarding the current schedule the school exercises.

As a senior, I have seen enough of the schedule to understand its ins and outs and its ups and downs. The schedule we have does a lot of good. The rotational nature of it is certainly a plus, as it has been proven by numerous researches that students learn differently depending on the time of day. If the schedule were to be altered, it would be essential that it still incorporated a rotational nature. Six classes per day with a rotating block dropped also helps the current schedule’s case. Seven total classes allows students to take an abundance of electives and core classes to strengthen their education without going overboard with cluttering the schedule and adding the potential for more homework than we already get.

The schedule certainly comes with its cons however. The gap between classes has some room for improvement. If a student is coming from physics to history, or from any classes that have some distance between them, they will almost always end up late to their next block if they try to go to their locker. Six minutes between classes, or even eight minutes in the morning to allow students more time for breakfast would smoothen the transitions throughout the day. Adding two additional minutes between each block, assuming classes stayed the same length, would only add ten minutes to the day.

An additional four minutes between first and second block allows students to grab breakfast which not only benefits students, but cafeteria workers as well. The WA cafeteria is self-sustaining; they make what they sell. If students could grab breakfast in the morning, it would not only give them energy they normally miss out on, but it would also improve the profits in the cafeteria.

Teachers who change rooms between blocks would also benefit from extra passing time. They would be less flustered transitioning and could begin class more smoothly.

If ten minutes were to be added to the day and allocated to the passing time between classes, WA could change a lot without changing a lot. Ten minutes is not a huge addition, but the extra two minutes between classes could mean a lot to many students.

Realistically, the addition of 10 minutes to the school day in order to increase passing time would not be a painful change and would benefit an abundance of students and faculty. The schedule does not need to be blown up and restarted, just altered slightly.

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