On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I barely go to school. I sleep in until 10:00, go to class for a couple hours, do a bit of homework, and go to sleep. These days are free from stress and give me time to do other things during the day. If every school day was like this, I would have no problem with the schedule. But that’s not the case. On Thursday and Friday, I have class from 8:10 to 4:00 with few breaks. By the end of the day, my head is spinning and my eyes sting. I find it difficult to concentrate in my last classes of the day, and almost impossible to motivate myself to do homework. I love the first three days of the week, but are they worth the last two?

My answer is no. I am lost on why the administration decided that the students would have no academic classes on Wednesday, half of our academic classes on two days, and then slam us with every class on the last two. A full day in person, rather than two half days, would alleviate some of the stress on the virtual days. Putting academic classes on Wednesday would help as well. Do we need an entire day with only three non academic classes? Wednesday’s are relaxing, and I enjoy them as much as anyone, but they are not worth the long virtual days.

The schedule was built to give us a chance to be in person for the first time in almost a year. Going in person to classes is exciting and makes me feel hopeful that we can increase our in person time in the future. However, as fun as those classes may be, they’re still only once a week. Added to this is the fact that several of my classes are still functioning virtually, although some of the students are in the building. Sitting on a computer with headphones in an empty classroom is not what I had hoped for when going in person. Perhaps if all my classes were completely in person, the long days would be more worth it. As it is, I have four classes that are actually in person. Two hundred minutes of in person classes as a tradeoff for two seven-and-a-half-hour days strikes me as odd. One or two full days of in person classes could be worth the long days, but a couple hours in the building are not.

An obvious fix to this schedule is Wednesday. On Wednesdays I sleep, bake, play with my dog, and catch up on some homework.  The concept of hump day is no longer a problem. But the student body can’t deny that Wednesdays are unnecessary. Why do we have school only four days a week? If it is necessary to have a break in the middle of the week, Wednesdays don’t have to be completely changed, but why not add two or three academic classes? Even shortening the two virtual days by a couple of hours would be beneficial. 

The last fix I propose to the schedule is changing the two half days to a full day. Going to school for a full day would make it more cohesive, cut down on transportation time, and leave an open day in the week. This new day could take the place of Wednesdays, and Wednesdays could become a full day – allowing the classes to take place over three days rather than two.