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Re: The School that Wasn't There
Posted By: gabby, on host 206.64.3.222
Date: Saturday, September 9, 2000, at 22:08:31
In Reply To: The School that Wasn't There posted by Pliffilif on Friday, September 8, 2000, at 17:38:26:

Some related thoughts in no special order:

I'd be surprised if requiring more and more hours in school ever helped significantly. The school I attend lasts two weeks longer than the state requires, but lags behind most of the state in how much material is covered.

I like short periods. My junior high had 90 minute classes, and about a half hour would always be wasted. Nearby, RHS has 120 minute classes. *shudders* I wouldn't want to take calculus there; it's blocked for two periods.

One hour lunches?! Ours was lengthened this year to 30 minutes. I'm definitely going to mention this at a leadership meeting.

I'd love a long lunch break because it would make clubs much easier to organize. Not that we have many.

Horribly, the school shortened passing time between classes to four minutes. I'd been tardy maybe twice before this school year, and I've been tardy five times this year. There's no way to get to class on time if the classes are on opposite sides, or only have doors located inside a crowded hallway, or especially if one needs to go to the restroom. I think even the dense administration must realize the cause of the problem when over half the students are late to every class.

My school also closed campus except for during lunch break, which means seniors can't have open periods at the end of the day anymore. I'll have to retake classes in order to fill my schedule. I will give them credit for helping to pay for a required class at the community college. Last year they refused to offer the discount.

I think schools always try weird things. New administrators come and want to exert their influence, so change things that don't need changing. Politicians, too, like to require more junk. When I lived in Washington, there was state testing each year, but the politicians had rigged it to show improvements each year: the same test with the same questions was used each year, from the primary grades up. Of course scores improved.

My dad was just talking on the phone to an assistant principal at a school he taught in for a year: the man was describing the school's new facilities. The school is downwind from a nerve gas depository and can be hermetically sealed at a moment's notice. It has enough food and air for all the students for a week. No way I would ever want to go to live there.

gab"Hour long lunches. Wow."by