Hallway Talk: Opinions on the New Schedule

There was a change in the class schedule this year, do you like it? How do you think it affects you?

: “I’m not entirely fond of it. Each day seems extremely bland and teachers assign the same amount of homework as last year when we had two days to complete it.”

: “I think it’s a good thing because it makes it so that people have a better attention span since two hour classes are too long to stay attentive in one class. On the other hand, I don’t like getting homework for all my classes almost every day.”

: I am strongly against the legalization of all drugs. I can see how one might make the argument for decriminalizing the use of drugs to prevent the punishment of dependent addicts in need of help, but really outright legalization is a considerably more drastic measure then is needed to do so. I think legalization opens up so many more problems than it solves. A lot of proponents argue that newly legalized substances could be highly regulated and taxed to provide funding for needing sectors like education, but what kind of message does it send to the international community if we’re sending our kids to school on drug money? A lot of people will also point fingers towards countries like The Netherlands and New Zealand where similar legalization has been tried, citing the general downward trend in overall drug use, but the fact remains that these countries are not at all like the US. There is not and never was in those countries cartel based drug trade on the massive scale we see it here in the US. To legalize that trade would only increase its size and give even more money to the criminal organizations participating in it. Due to years of criminalization, those involved in the illegal drug trade currently are largely criminal individuals. While the average dealer might not necessarily be a terrible person, those coordinating the smuggling and distribution of these substances are not, generally speaking, the most moral (and more importantly, law regarding) individuals. Legalization would validate their cartels entirely and perpetuate a trade which has far more numerous negative effects on society than simply the creation of addicts. On that note, to allow addicts to continue using freely creates an even larger public health concern than illegal drugs currently do, this isn’t just immoral, it’s uneconomical and socially irresponsible. Do I think totally dependent addicts should be thrown in jail for using? No, not at all, they’re the biggest victims of illicit substances, they haven’t necessarily done anything wrong yet and are suffering both physically and legally for it. Complete legalization wouldn’t be helping them at all, however; it would do nothing but benefit further the criminals already fed by the drug trade and open the door to increase new user-ship on the whole. There is no way I could support complete legalization.

: “I pretty much like it, I don’t really have a problem with it. I give it a solid 9 out of 11.”

: “The new schedule is what we are working with, so we will do our best with what we have. That being said, my yoga classes often feel like we are ending the class right when things are really getting going, so we cherish the block day. Similar things happen in the art courses. However, my yearbook people are probably tired of my jokes after a shorter day, so they are stoked to have more short class periods.”

: “The new schedule can be nice at times, because we get a break everyday. But I’m still messing up after 3 years of the block schedule. Overall I’d say 4 out of 10.”

: “I think the only thing that I don’t like is that it makes me really anxious to get out of class because they’re shorter.”

: “I don’t like it. I give it a 4 out of 20. I don’t understand it, just do what we did last year. Block days, or do all 6 period days. Don’t mix them.”

: “I don’t particularly like it as much as last year. It’s difficult, because it’s twice the homework to do on a given night, and conflicts my extracurricular activity time with the time needed to do homework, and somehow fitting sleep in with it all. The new schedule is starting to cause sleep deprivation and exhaustion in a lot of students, and something needs to be done about it because keeping up with 7 classes is too much, and when you put sports and clubs in there it overwhelms the people who try to do it all. I did all of the same things last year, and none of it was this hard. Last year it was easier to do half of the classes’ homework per night, and if you missed a day for sports, or you were sick, not every single grade would drop.”

: “It’s evil. We have homework more often, which makes extra curricular activities more difficult to dedicate time to, especially sports. Also, starting in one class 4 days a week is no good. When they try to make up for the bad schedule on Wednesdays with an hour shorter day it really is only class time away from us where we could be better learning the material that we will have homework on for that night.”