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The future of MLHS is in our sights with brand-new block scheduling in our midst. Many students are feeling quite ambivalent about the upcoming changes that will soon grace our school. Some say that block scheduling will ultimately bring misery upon the student body and drive classroom interest into the ground. Others hold a slightly more optimistic stance on the topic and are eager to take different classes each day. For this article, we will explore the “brighter” aspects of the incoming block schedule.

More Time to Teach

One issue that pertains to the current scheduling system, discussed by Ms. Seibert, an English teacher at MLHS is that, “teacher[s] feel [as though] the bell rings just as [they] get to the best part [of class discussions].” With all the time expended on traveling to class, unpacking, and settling down, by the time both the teacher and students are prepared to begin class, precious minutes will have already been wasted, shortening our already condensed class periods. Not to mention, the vast majority of students begin to tune out their teachers and prepare to depart from the room five minutes before the bell rings! This time lost may not seem like much when binge-watching Netflix, but our courses are only 45 minutes long. If we lose five minutes setting up and an additional five minutes packing up, it immensely slashes the time spent on classwork. How are teachers expected to teach, and students expected to absorb, an entire curriculum throughout the year when they are deprived of so much time? Hence, this is why block scheduling is so vital to increasing the quality of students education.

Alternating Schedules

The implementation of block scheduling allows for students to have a less restrictive agenda throughout their week. Ms. Seibert added, “in the situation that “[a student] [has] a class or teacher that [he or she is] not super fond of, [he or she will not need to participate in] that teacher[‘s] class…every day.” Alternatively, it also offers teachers some respite from a particularly rowdy class of theirs. Additionally, when students return to the course after their next cycle of classes, they will have had a day or two to compose themselves, and get into a “growth” mindset, rather than an I’m-going-to-“secretly”-listen-to-music-all-period-instead-of-taking-notes mindset. This will result in students achieving more academically, and causing fewer disruptions in school.

Lunch Block

Is anyone frustrated that he or she never seems to get the same lunch period as his or her friends? Well, if so, block scheduling will be your savior. One aspect of the “block” is that everyone will have the same lunch/free period, so you can utilize that advantage to visit teachers, organize club meetings, or just sit down and socialize. Always having the same off period as your teachers, I suspect, will be tremendously helpful to students, especially because they would not be seeing their teachers every day as a result of this schedule’s use. Besides this, sports will no longer be a major restraint on what clubs students may join. If club meetings were to be squeezed into the school day, then it would erase worries of other time commitments after school, and eliminate the stresses of balancing homework as well as being an active member of a club simultaneously. Plus, students who lack academic or extracurricular obligations during this period can simply “chill” and luxuriate in the bliss of peacefully eating lunch surrounded by their companions.

A Brighter Future

Finally, this concludes the “sunshiney” side of block scheduling, for both teachers and students, this fresh new system will immensely alter their MLHS experience. A shared lunch period, an alternating schedule, and adequate time for the learning process will be executed. This “revision” of our daily happenings at MLHS will benefit everyone, from the weathered head of every department to every single wide-eyed freshman that will enter the building. An even more brilliant and dazzling MLHS is fast approaching on the horizon, and everyone can bask in its glory.