Academy Reduces Saturday Classes for 2024-25 Year

By  SAM ALTMAN, JINMIN LEE, MARVIN SHIM, and ISHAAN SINGH

    Students were surprised when they checked their schedule this fall and saw a reduction in Saturday classes for the 2024-25 school year. There is only one Saturday class this term over Family Weekend, marking a significant reduction from last year’s frequency. Furthermore, Saturday classes during Family Weekend are a tradition in order for families to attend classes and are paired with a half-reduction of classes on Friday, resulting in the same net number of classes as a five-day school week.

    Historically, Exeter was known for its frequent Saturday classes—at the beginning of the Academy in 1781, students had Saturday classes every weekend. “The old view was that Saturday classes were good for keeping students busy and out of trouble, for spreading out the weekly class load through two half-days, and for making terms intense but short with long vacations,” said Instructor in Science Townley Chisholm, who has been at the Academy since 1994.

    Over the past two and a half centuries, however, the administration has been steadily reducing the frequency of these days. “In 2002-03, we had 23 Saturday class days,” explained Dean of Academic Affairs Laura Marshall. “There are about 30 weeks in the year, so there were only seven non-Saturday class days. Students and faculty alike at the time felt that this schedule was increasingly relentless.”

    “When the faculty discussed reducing or ending Saturday classes,” Chisholm said, “most teachers wanted a more livable pace for themselves and students, more time with their families on weekends, and a dedicated time for club meetings on Saturday mornings that would preserve Sundays for rest and preparation for the week ahead. Yes, really, all club meetings were supposed to occur on Saturday mornings.”

    Thus, the number of six-day school weeks was reduced further. “In 2010-11 there were 21 Saturday class days and in 2011-12 it was reduced to 11,” Marshall said. “That year, we were able to create a new calendar that significantly reduced the number of Saturday class days. We are required by law to have a certain number of days in the year, so by eliminating Saturday class days, we had to add the days elsewhere.”

    “At least one recent former Student Council president opposed this change,” explained Marshall. “Many alumni felt strongly that Saturday class days were an important part of the Exeter experience. The principal at the time had to balance the strong feelings expressed by alumni versus the experience of the then current student body.”

    “In some subsequent years, we were able to get that number down to six. But there has always been an effort to reduce the number of 6-day class weeks,” continued Marshall. “This year, Ms. Lovett was able to get that number down to three. That may not be possible in future years. The calendar is tied to many things, such as the placement of Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and our athletic schedule. It is complicated.”

    Director of Studies Jeanette Lovett explained this process. “We have to balance fixed holidays, NH state law regarding total school hours, and format counts to create the calendar, and it changes based on the numerical dates of some holidays,” she said. “In particular, when we have an early Labor Day and late Thanksgiving, we tend to end the fall term “earlier” because our standard 11-week term ends almost a full week before Thanksgiving. From there, we must design roughly similar-length terms for the winter and spring, with graduation on the first or second Sunday of June.”

    “Our between-term breaks must be long enough to schedule the next term,” Lovett continued, “as we change everyone’s schedule each term to accommodate their PE/Athletics registration, which is not available in full until tryouts are completed at the end of the prior term. Once we have those dates set, the number of Saturday classes is determined based on the format counts in each of those three terms (which is affected by moving holidays), with the goal of keeping them consistent across the three terms, and with previous years.”

    “For this year in particular,” Lovett explained, “we were able to schedule fewer Saturday class days because we have an early Labor Day, late Thanksgiving, and graduation on the second Sunday of June.”

    Returning students reflected on their experiences with Saturday classes in the past, agreeing that they were difficult because they took away from their ability to rest and recuperate during the weekend. “Saturdays are supposed to be the time when I unwind and have time for myself,” commented senior Dara Ogunwale. “I can also do my work and catch up on all my work. Even though Saturday classes don’t take up the entire day, I still had to interact with everyone as though it were a school day, which took a toll on my social battery.”

    “I generally didn’t mind Saturday classes too much, but they do certainly reduce the amount of time I have for homework,” said lower Ashley Chen.

    “I was fine with them at first, but then I gradually felt that they became a bit too much, and I wasn’t getting a break,” said lower Ahmed Hamad. “Saturday classes would just add more work to my schedule, and it would be sort of a time crunch to get it all done while also having time to relax from the last week.”

    “Saturday classes were really hard because having one day of rest per week never gives students a break. Normally, you can do homework on one day of the weekend and rest the other day, but Saturday classes, especially combined with sports, take away that day of leisure. I also struggled with getting adequate sleep last year, and not having a day to catch up on sleep was detrimental,” shared upper Athena Creigh.

    “I always felt Saturday classes were really rushed. You don’t really know what to do because you kind of did everything in the normal week and so you’re really just doing what you might’ve done for homework, for example,” upper Sacha Charlier commented. “They also get in the way of sports and clubs, so I just don’t really think it works anymore.”

    “It was genuinely awful,” recalled lower Crane Lee. “Having to wake up at 8 a.m. was dreadful, and doing homework on a Friday night when I would usually rest was difficult.”

    Senior King-Diorr Willsun agreed, “Some of the most tragic moments I’ve had at Exeter is when I came back on a Friday and had to check-in at normal times and then wake up the following morning at 7am. Even if it’s just one or two classes, it can be really taxing to have to get ready for school again and it reduces the amount of time we have to work on Monday’s homework.”

    “As an Exonian, it’s very tough to get sleep,” said lower Victor Angeline. “When I do have the ability to sleep in, it’s usually on the weekends. I only do that when I can, and when I have Saturday classes, it means I really only have one chance to get a good amount of sleep per week. I also feel like sometimes Saturday classes are a way for holidays or other days off to not really count, because we have to make it up on Saturdays.”

    Because of this, Exonians appreciated the new decrease in number of Saturday classes and felt the difference that it made on their schedules. “I like the fact that we don’t have Saturday classes, even though it ultimately doesn’t change the Exeter terms too much, since the course rigor and amount of studying stays relatively the same,” said Ogunwale.

    “I think having just one this term is a great idea—really, as few as possible is best. Perhaps the only reason we have them for this weekend is so that parents can sit in on classes, which is completely justified,” Angeline said.

    “It’s really nice to have free time at the school,” added Creigh. “I’d agree that my overall mental health has improved this term.”

    “I was really relieved and happy, mostly because I can actually enjoy my Friday nights, and not have to worry about homework or assessments for the upcoming week,” said Hamad.

    Some students called for even more reform to the system. “I think it would be better to not even have Saturday classes on Family Weekend—you get to spend more time with family without any distractions from doing other things with only our families,” Willsun suggested.

    Other students were very open to the idea of having longer school years to reduce the amount of time they spent doing school on the weekend. “I would completely agree to have more days at the end of the year if it meant having fewer Saturday classes,” Angeline said.

    “I would definitely prefer to have fewer days of summer break to completely remove Saturday classes from our schedules,” agreed lower Lake Zhou. “I think students don’t need that many days over the summer.”

    “I would absolutely want to remove a few days from the end of summer break to abolish Saturday classes,” added Creigh.

    Traditionally, Saturday classes occurred every single week at the Academy, seen as a way to extend learning opportunities to greater depths. However, as the priorities and needs of students and faculty have shifted, the Academy has gradually moved toward a normalized five-day school week, representing the administration’s understanding of balance in a student’s studies, the importance of rest, and extracurricular activities. Exonians appreciate this transformation in the Academy’s focus as it provides them the ability to support their mental health and foster a greater sense of community with their peers, rather than solely working to improve academic performance. In all, the reduction of Saturday classes in our schedule may signify the evolution of the school’s approach to a well-rounded education.