It’s a little disconcerting when a school system wants to keep students from moving at their own pace. This, I believe, is the ultimate result of the scheduling changes planned for next year. For those unaware, HHS will likely be transitioning into an all-year schedule next year, as well as getting rid of early release and late arrival blocks. While most sophomores and juniors may be worried about the latter, it’s the former that concerns me more.

It’s a fairly popular scheduling move for underclassmen to double up on their language in a year. In fact, it’s necessary for anyone wanting to take AP Spanish, even those who start in the eighth grade, seeing as Spanish 1-5 are prerequisites. Students who discover a passion after their freshman year will no longer be able to take as many classes in it as they were in the old system.

I also don’t buy the argument that having a class whole-year significantly slows the pace down. I don’t think many students actually split up their homework between the two nights between class meetings, instead opting to do it the night before. Then there are the classes that are already mind-numbingly slowly paced taken semester-long. These would be stretched out so that they last twice as long, slowing them down even more. Taking classes at JMU, a popular option for recent upperclassmen, will become much more logistically difficult, if not impossible.

In conclusion, I think these reasons all fall under a popular mantra- why change what works? There don’t seem to be many pros to switching to a full-year schedule, and certainly no more pros than cons.