Twice a week, occasionally three times a week, and sometimes not at all during the week, the lights come on in the auditorium, a Zoom link comes to life, and the events on stage get projected on screens across the school, while the Upper School takes its seats. This is how Morning Ex (MX) has looked for the past month, begging the question: is MX living up to its purpose? I would argue no. 

Since the founding of Parker 120 years ago, MX has been a time when the whole school comes together to hear speakers, learn about the goings on of other grades, and get students ready for the day ahead. Despite the idea being well-intentioned, for the two and a half years I have been here when MX has taken place, it’s served as more of a nuisance, a convenient nap time depending how strict your advisor is, and occasionally a window into the brain of a brilliant individual. 

Many accomplished, sometimes ingenious, individuals have graced the stage of the Parker auditorium. In my time here, I have been blown away by speeches from the likes of Wes Moore, and I value those MXs, however, they are few and far between. 

When I came to Parker, I was excited to experience MX, however, I quickly learned it was a waste of time. Not only were a majority of MXs dull, they were extending the day, and, amongst the students I have spoken to on the issue, created more contempt for the school rather than fostering community or teaching us anything.

This year I became a MX Committee head, and got to view from the inside. In the room, it feels like MX has incredible importance, that we need to get all these MXs scheduled otherwise the school will lose something, however, when writing this article, I looked at the schedule for this semester, and realized that I was not actively excited for any of the MXs, and don’t believe that they are worth 40 minutes less of sleep two or three times a week.

One of the major focuses of MX is to show the school what certain parts of the school are working on, an idea the music department takes to mean that every third or fourth MX should be music focused. It feels like we have weeks where MX is just music performance after music performance, which becomes repetitive, and most students groan or roll their eyes when they show up and see yet another music MX. This isn’t to say that those who are performing aren’t genuinely talented or aren’t worthy of praise, however, like with MX in general, there is too much of it to be good, and having so much repetition of just one subject degrades MX as a whole. 

While many of these issues have been addressed by the reduction of MXs from three to two times a week, especially the number of music MXs, there is now the issue of MX FLEX, a mostly superfluous time. Since school started, MX FLEX has been used only once for US programming as far as I know, however, a worse offence than flex can be used as an MX time, and while this isn’t happening too often, it still allows for a return to a week with two hours in the auditorium.

My ideal world would involve just one MX on Fridays, however, because Parker clings to its past and its tradition with all its might, this is unlikely to happen. In doing this, you could shift around schedules to having four days a week with 9am starts, and to supplement speakers who can’t make timing work for a Friday MX, there can be an optional, after school, speech as is already often done.

Thinking more practically, I would eliminate MX FLEX and allow students more say in the selection of MXs. Currently, no student has input as to the content of any MX. I believe giving the MX committee more power over content and creating an equivalent in Middle School would allow for more student input and thus a more engaged student body.

Despite my best efforts, I fear I have failed to express the true extent of my hatred of MX. However, I can see the good intention behind the tradition, and think that it can work if amended.