Students disappointed after break shrinks

I was concerned after hearing that the administration was considering taking away our break time. In an effort to expand the learning time throughout the school year, time has to be taken away from different parts of the day such as, break, and passing time between lunches. Considering that break was previously ten minutes long, taking it away entirely would have added a large amount of learning time over the course of the year.  However, the huge issue is that students don’t want their break taken away.

The decision had just recently been made that break time would be shortened by two minutes, making it eight minutes long. When I found out about this, I was not thrilled. There’s not enough time as it is for break, and now time is being taken away. Prior to finding out that break had been shortened, students gave me their opinions after finding out that break might be eliminated altogether. Junior Molly Czitrom agrees with me that break isn’t long enough, so they shouldn’t be shortening it. “If anything they should make break longer! It’s the only time to relax and socialize besides lunch time.” When asked what she does during break, she responded, “I usually talk with my friends and eat.”

It’s the time of the day when you get a lovely break to do whatever you want. You can go to the bathroom, get a snack, say hey to a friend or even just chill. Now, with break shortened, there’s even less time to do these things. Passing time between classes is very short, so you don’t have time to go to the bathroom or you’ll be late to class. Typically teachers make it seem like such a hassle if you ask them during class time, and also you don’t want to miss time from learning. Therefore, break is a perfect time to do these things. I love break and clearly so do other students. During it, I typically eat a snack and just say hey to my friends. Sometimes I’ll go talk to a teacher regarding a missed assignment, or just to ask them a question if I had one.

One of the biggest issues that has come about is that students were not contacted or given input into the process of adding more learning time in the days schedule. It’s brought about that time could have been taken away from break, lunch, passing time, or a bit from each. There easily could have been a poll for students to take or even something done out in the math classes where students would have had the chance to give their input. The administration had the perfect opportunity to make this problem into a creative learning experience that students would in fact be interested in, because the result affects us, and they made the mistake of not taking that chance. Once again, the students have not been included in decisions regarding changes within the school.