The Critical Flaws of the Proposed Schedules

There are two new schedule propositions being passed around in Student Council. The first one, aptly titled “Super Long Block,” revolves around the creation of 95 minute blocks by stacking two similar periods on top of each other—for example D and its reserve, W.

As Exonians, we believe that these proposals will  not benefit the Exeter community in any way.

This schedule usually begins the day at 8:45 a.m., and the final block ends at 5:20 p.m. Lunch and break periods would remain as they are now, but regular class periods would be 45 minutes long instead of 50 minutes. 

As Exonians, we believe that these proposals will  not benefit the Exeter community in any way.

Firstly, there is an inconsistency with each day’s start time. The school day starts at 8:45 a.m. on every day except for Wednesday, when it starts at 8:30 a.m. This change would mean that students could easily overlook the earlier start time and as a result lose one-third of the total class period due to oversleeping. For the students who sleep through these classes, dickies will pile up, and they will be missing valuable time in the classroom. The added sleeping time would result in a greater number of students staying up later because they believe they can wake up later. For those who sleep through classes anyway, this would also add to their problems as the later they stay up, the more tired they are and the later they wake up.

In the status quo, 50 minute classes can already shorten important discussions that are forgotten by the next class. On the other end of this spectrum, some classes would struggle to fill 95 minutes with engaging material. Having this extended block only for classes that use reserve instead of every class will also cut down on some very helpful all-class study sessions and teachers that have special events during their long blocks may lose that time as well. Some students have also expressed worries that spending 95 minutes in one class could be mentally exhausting or boring.

The other schedule proposal, titled “Equal Impact”, is more complicated, but essentially boils down to allowing Exonians to sleep in by shortening lunch and breaks by about twenty minutes. The end of the school day remains at 6 p.m. Equal Initiative means that any free time that Exonians have to themselves—crucial time for doing homework and catching up on well-deserved naps—is shortened. Now, while we would still have our free block, our break time would be condensed, and so we would not be able to finish as much homework as we would normally be able to. Clubs that meet during these times would be forced to deal with shortened meetings. 

Finally, the worst part of Equal Initiative is that the end time for the school day is still 6 p.m., which means that people will still be doing a majority of their homework at night (unless you don’t eat anything during the day and spend all that time on homework). This is problematic because doing homework and studying at night after a long, tiring day, means that you will be less apt to understand lessons.

In conclusion, the ideas that have been presented so far are flawed, preventing students from doing their homework in a timely manner or disadvantaging students who have sleep troubles. In these times, while progress is necessary, it might be better to abide by the age-old maxim, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”