Saturday Classes Discussed
On Jan. 13., students and faculty across campus woke up early to attend the only day of Saturday classes in the winter term.
Many students dislike Saturday classes, an occasional occurrence at the Academy. Earlier in the school’s history, Saturday classes were a regularity, held almost every week. In 2013, the school abolished routine weekend classes, instead holding a few weekend classes to make up for special events that altered the normal class schedule.
This year, there was only one Saturday class scheduled during winter term. When Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty organizes the academic schedule, he considers the required appointments and class days to determine when and how often classes meet. “I was able to meet those targets without scheduling many Saturday classes this term, and that’s because students and faculty find winter term maybe more difficult to navigate for multiple reasons,” he said.
Students and faculty hold divided opinions on the practice of weekend classes. Many students have criticized and questioned this, as Friday nights are spent doing homework and Saturdays mean waking up early to attend class. At the same time, other students, and some faculty members, defend them as an occasional necessity.
Although students and faculty dislike going to school on Saturdays, they acknowledge the benefits of Saturday classes. “I enjoy that the year is shorter than it could be,” senior Danny Miller said. “I also enjoy not having classes every Saturday, so I think we have a good balance.”
English Instructor Jane Cadwell noted another benefit of Saturday classes, saying that they help the community stay on track if the week’s schedule was unusual. “If we’ve had a funny schedule during the week, Saturday classes allow us to keep on track with the work we’re doing,” she said. “I think it benefits not only teachers, but everybody. Something is only a benefit to me if it’s a benefit to my students.”
On the other side, senior Gabriel Byan saw Saturday classes as detrimental to school life and questioned their value. According to Byan,“they put an unnecessary strain on students taking up a large portion of the day” that would otherwise sometimes be used for rest.
Upper Sophie Bunnell agreed, explaining that Saturday classes decrease productivity. “I feel like people don’t get as much work done and as well as they could because they procrastinate on Fridays,” she said. Bunnel also considered lack of sleep as a consequence of Saturday classes. She said, “[Saturday classes] just create more stress and throw off everyone’s sleep schedule.”
However, health instructor Carol Cahalane said that there isn’t any proof that Saturday classes negatively impact sleep schedules.
Regardless, teachers notice the strain Saturday classes put on students. “I think not having Saturday classes allows people to regroup and refresh,” Cadwell said. “If you have Saturday classes, you may have sports in the afternoon. By the time you’ve finished with everything, it’s Sunday afternoon and you’re doing your homework.”
Modern Languages Instructor Richard Schieber agreed with these sentiments, saying that a two day weekend would help his students rest and regroup. Furthermore, he noted the low attendance on Saturdays. “When we do have Saturday classes, sports teams have to go away,” he said. “So very often I don’t have a full class, and we can’t make up for those kids who have to go on a trip.”
In fact, Schieber believes the inconsistency of Saturday classes is an inconvenience. “I can work around having no Saturday classes,” he said. “Since we’re having less Saturday classes, having them is almost like a disruption.”
However, there is no sign of Saturday classes being phased out. “Given the space between the start of school and graduation, as long as we’re committed to meeting the amount of class meetings, we’ll have Saturday classes,” Moriarty said.