Should Homeroom be Abolished? Student’s Opinions

Starting this year, Student Affairs instituted a new period between middle and high school lunch times. The period is thirty minutes long, being used for student-led clubs, study hall, and Community Corner. In the past, study hall was combined with lunch. This year however, the homeroom period is mandatory, and includes a combination of students from various grades. 

Ms. Williams, the Dean of Students, stated that Student Affairs blended grades during homeroom so students could “have a home base with different students.” In addition to helping kids interact with students in different grades, there is a new system to try to stop students from skipping study hall. According to Ms. Dickens, the Associative Head of School, students in previous years were not taking advantage of the study hall period provided. In an attempt to confront this issue, Student Affairs required students to check in with a specific teacher at the beginning of each homeroom period. 

Student Affairs has also started a social-emotional and cultural learning time, every Wednesday. Community Corner, previously referred to as Wellness Wednesday, requires students to learn about various topics, including bullying and social justice. According to Ms.Williams, the period was designed to teach students “to cope with stress and anxiety,” and help to make their school experience better. However, student response to these lessons tells a different story. Niko Ordukhanyan, a 9th grader here at BASIS, says that Community Corner is “a waste of time and should not happen every week”, something that's a common consensus amongst students. As Tyler Donnelly, a student in 8S, states in Community Corner “you [students] do useless activities.” Community Corner is not fun for most of the student body, and it minimizes their school experience. Being forced to participate in Community Corner takes away valuable time to do schoolwork. Allowing students to do their homework would help manage the stress the period is meant to be teaching us about.

Students have also reported that the new system actually detracts from their ability to do homework during school hours. One student mentioned that they “preferred last year’s system where we all could go to student hours every day. Having only two days a week to go to student hours is irritating.” In addition, students believe they get more homework done at home, with less distractions. During homeroom, the urge to hang out with friends distracts them from actually completing homework. Although the period was instituted to ensure that students go to student hours, many still fail to attend. Students are supposed to check in with both their homeroom teacher and the student hours teacher. However, there is no system for teachers to make sure the students are at student hours, and many students take advantage of this. If the homeroom period is meant to get more students to go to student hours, the organization between teachers needs to be improved on. 

Although teachers may see this change as a change for the student’s good, students have spoken. Homeroom is filled with unnecessary activities that don’t encourage schoolwork. The previous system worked better for many students, and the organization is much worse this year. If teachers want students to get more work done, they should listen to what they’re saying.