Or, Blockhead Scheduling, as my dad calls it.
Promoted as the solution to the world's problems, block scheduling has become a problem in itself. First, I'll tell you how our version of the system works. We have four 90 minute periods in a day. A "4/4" class meets every day for a semester, and is worth one credit. An "A/B" class meets every other day for the whole year and is worth one credit. A half-credit class can be either everyday for a quarter of the year, or every other day for a semester. Most of the school is in "4/4" classes. Advanced Placement (AP) classes, music and dance classes, and a few others are "A/B" classes.
When the school "improvers" were trying to promote the system to us (before it was implemented), they said, "You'll have more choices with eight classes instead of six. . . the need for summer school will diminish. . . don't worry, it will not hurt the AP or music programs. . .etc." Now that we're on the system, we see that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
Yes, we do have more choices, up to a point - along with block scheduling came heightened requirements. All graduating classes from 1998 on have to have 28 credits to graduate. The class of 1995, the last one before block scheduling, needed only 24, the state requirement. Also, new "integrated math" classes are required for graduation and there is talk about even more English requirements.
More classes mean more scheduling problems. As if we didn't have enough already. Even if a student wanted another elective class, he might be unable to take it due to conflicting schedules. Many courses have one class of 35 students or more and another (the same course) with 13 students. Great for the small class, not-so-great for the large one.
There are 45 fewer hours in the school year when block scheduling is in effect. Where there were two days of a 60 minute class, there is now one day of a 90 minute class. This may be no problem to regular classes, but it poses a real threat to the AP classes. The teachers and students have to cram the material to get it all done before the AP exams in May.
The lost time also hurts the music programs. Much needed rehearsal time is cut by forty-five hours. It is also difficult to have rehearsals every other day, sometimes three days a week, sometimes only two. I am thankful that we are doing "A/B" instead of straight "4/4" because that would be even worse and would choke off music altogether - having a semester of band and then a semester off, or by taking it every day, all year, every year and using eight credits, which some students cannot afford.
Summer school? The idea was to enable students to take failed classes the next semester instead of in the summer. A good idea, yes, but not totally correct. Many students still take summer school and the AP students are going when they didn't have to before. Because of the time constraint, some AP classes have a "pre-class" called a Summer Institute. This is no ordinary blow-off, sleep-through summer class. It is seven- hours-a-day, four-days-a-week of hard college-level work.
Our math club suffered last year and is extinct this year primarily because of block scheduling. District contests are held three times a year, in the spring semester. A student must compete in the category in which he is enrolled. Some students take math the first semester and not the second. This is an advantage over other schools where the students are not finished with the course. However, the student gets rusty in his skills when he is not in a math class. If a student wants to get ahead, he takes the next math course in the second semester. He is at a great disadvantage at math contests because he is just learning the material that other schools' students have had for a semester and more. Remember, he is not allowed to compete in the category that his first semester class was, because he is now enrolled in the next higher class. So the other schools in our district pity us and laugh at us at the same time because we have no math club.
So there it is - Blockhead Scheduling.
Essay written in December 1996 by Heather Wightman when a Senior at Lake Brantley High School, Altamonte Springs, FL