STAFF EDITORIAL

The Voice of California High School

One exception from the high-schooler’s litany of complaints last year was being able to sleep in on Mondays aftter the weekend.

But after the schedule changes this year, this luxury no longer exists. Oddly enough, administrators decided to have school start late on Wednesdays instead of Mondays.

Perhaps this is a necessary change. Because teacher-administration meetings happened in the extra hour afforded by Monday late days, Monday holidays led to many of these meeting being cancelled, assistant principal Damon Wright said.

But what is unacceptable is this change is being used as a stepping-stone for a more radical alteration of the schedule next year,  one in which students will have one traditional day added to the block schedule.

Administrators prefer this because it would eliminate the confusion of alternating odd and even days.  An example of this is how some Mondays are even days, while others are odd days.

This new schedule would also make it easier for at-risk students to get help because they’d see all of their teachers three days a week.

For example, one would have a 5th period class three times a week. But with the current block, he or she might have that class twice one week, and three times the following week.

But this might not be beneficial for all students.

This new schedule will make students more stressed out because it means homework and tests will come more frequently.

Also, in other schools with a modified block, teachers use the one traditional day out of the week for tests because of the shortened period.

This creates more stress for students because they can  expect more tests on the one traditional day of the week, instead of spreading them throughout the week.

Having been spoiled with the block schedule for about 15 years, this proposed change is too rash for students to catch on.

For one thing, Cal students have come to love the block schedule because it gives them more time for homework.

This is necessary for all the athletes and AP students who would be more stressed out if homework assigned had to be turned in more frequently.

Most teachers love the current block schedule because longer class periods allow them to spend more time with students.

Teachers also see fewer students a day this way, allowing for more individualized attention per student.

The school may have a valid argument that a modified block schedule could help at-risk students. But by making the change to a modified block, administrators are disregarding the points of view of most teachers and average students, who clearly comprise the majority of Cal’s population.

We need a schedule that reduces student and teacher stress and keeps the interests of the majority in mind.