Hinsdale South’s schedule has changed substantially this year with the addition of longer lunch periods and a shift in early release Wednesdays. Instead of getting out of school at 12:35 on Wednesdays, students are dismissed at 1:55. This is something strongly frowned upon by the student body as it is an obstacle for student-athletes and underclassmen.
As explained by a student-athlete, “It’s not enough time to come back to the school for football practice.”
Most students have to be at their sport at 3:30, so getting out at 1:55 leaves little time to partake in anything else. For underclassmen, it is a collective struggle to find rides as parents have to abandon their workday to drive them there and back in less than an hour. Ultimately, it serves solely as a major inconvenience every single Wednesday.
Even the lunch periods serve as a controversial topic because of the extension to double the time from last year.
As stated by Molly Curley, a sophomore, “I like the longer lunch periods because I have more time to do my homework since I have other sports and activities after school.”
On the other hand, students like Callie Carr, a sophomore, and Sruthi Bijo, a junior, say, “I think that lunch is way too long even though you get more time to do work and hang out with friends. They should just take out lunch and shorten periods to let us end school at 11:45. I feel like it drags out since I also have a study hall period.”
Depending on how busy students are after school, there’s a variety of perspectives on the topic. Some students think it is important to have longer classes because they believe education is critical in helping one learn, and they’d rather have extra time to get their work finished before leaving school. Whereas, others think it’s disruptive to their weekly schedule.
Ending school at 12:35 may have caused some learning limitations in the past, but in the grand scheme of things, it brought students closer to their peers while also minimizing stress. Having an evening of freedom is the greatest gift for a teenager.
The Hinsdale School District should change the release time so that students will not only be less stressed but also all around more eager to attend school.
