Please Sir, May I Have Some More?
Unfortunately for eighth grade students, things have gone downhill in terms of tardiness. On Dec. 3, all eighth grade teachers in the three pods announced during Team Time that they were going to give out lunch detentions to tardy students. This action has upset 8th grade students; many claim it isn’t possible to get each class on time when they have to travel across the school, use the bathroom and switch out binders from their lockers. Yes, eighth graders aren’t perfect and they all make mistakes, but give them some slack and just a little more time.
“Ursus” proposes that Bedford should extend the period of time in between classes from three minutes to four.
Bedford is Westport’s largest middle school. Some classrooms are far away from each other, on two different floors. It takes a long time to move from a special, get what you need from your locker, go to the bathroom and be in your seat ready with binders and books. If the amount of time is extended, more people will be on time ready to work.
We know that adding time is not easy. In order to do so, we believe a special committee with teachers, administrators and students be established to create a better schedule that does not sacrifice learning time but gives students more passing time. We feel this is better than punishing students with lunch detentions.
If teachers and students at Bedford Middle School disagree with our proposal to form a scheduling committee, look at the guiding principles, and we hope it will change your opinion.
The Westport Public School District created a set of general guidelines that its schools should operate under in order to better teach students. One of the guidelines is to always be learning. Do automatic lunch detentions allow students to learn? Another guideline is being kind with sincerity. Are teachers being kind and considerate when they are giving kids many lunch detentions? These are things we must consider under the debate of more time in between classes.
Overall, more time in between classes won’t harm anybody, so why not change the time span? “Ursus” believes it will do more than just give students time to change classes, it will allow teachers to briefly prepare and organize for the upcoming class.
During passing time, students and teachers alike are not thinking about the class they are about to have; they are thinking, or rather dwelling, on the class they just came from. Just one minute more between classes will allow for everyone to readjust their frame of mind and allow for an easier day for all.