Freshmen react to transition to 1 hour 30 minute classes

by Shamirah G.

One transition that Airport High School’s new 2023 freshmen have had to make is the change from shorter classes in the middle school level... They have differing reactions to being in class for 1 hour and 30 minutes. They only have four class periods so they're not in the hall as much, but it can be difficult for these fourteen and fifteen year olds to stay focused and engaged for such a long chunk of time.

Most students actually really like the longer classes. They don't have to walk around as much and don't have that many periods. “It's not really as bad as I thought. I have a lot of time to get work finished and you have a lot of spare time.” said Brandi, "[and] I don't think it's bad because we don't have a lot of periods.”

Other students think it's unnecessary to only have four periods and have to be in one class for one hour and thirty minutes a day. Ka’Niyah said she thinks that “people are over exaggerating, it's not that bad in my opinion.”

Most don't really have a problem with how long they have to be in one period but also some people feel like it should be more than four periods and that's too long to sit in one class.

Some feel that students should have more periods because sitting in one class could cause them to get sleepy, finish their work early and start playing around and getting loud disrupting other students.

39.8 percent of students in South Carolina have block schedules. Student have less information to take in during the day due to only having 4 blocks. Students also have less homework , you have more time to understand what you're learning about in class.

Teachers end up planning their day and still having time left in class so their students get rowdy and start to play around instead of finishing up their assignment. Teachers have to get through all of their lessons in 9 weeks due to only having the student for one semester.

Students can talk to the principal, guidance , teacher and many more about their feelings toward being in one class for as long as they are .