Student Opinion: Why Study Halls are Important
As all students can agree, homework is the worst. We rush out of school, excited to relax and go home after a long day of school. But many students leave the building in a rush to get ready for after school practice or work an after-school job.
When these commitments are finished, most students still are not able to rest because they have the additional strain on an already stressful day in the form of homework.
It is generally agreed upon by students and teachers that homework is a pain. Students resent having to do homework after school while teachers loathe that they have to grade these papers long into the night.
For the students in athletics and other extracurriculars, homework is an additional hassle on an already late day after practice, and on a game day it’s even worse.
I personally feel we need more time in our school day to get our homework done. Many schools have adopted a short 20-minute part of the day dedicated specifically for a study hall, which is what our school has adopted this year.
In theory, this common homeroom-like time is great. It even gives time to hold meetings that can’t be held before or after school. But once you take away the time that these meetings take, suddenly students are only left with a few minutes to work on homework.
In the past, we have had a full period study hall. I do understand that there are issues with this option as well. Many students will often waste time in this study hall and do nothing, often not completing their homework, resulting not only in poor grades, but a waste of time that could be spent learning in a non-study hall class.
Our school is still adjusting to the new routine. Some want to bring back full period study hall, while others believe the shorter study hall period with more class options is the way to go.
Personally, I believe study halls are important for those who will utilize them correctly. Instead of cutting everyone’s study hall to 20-some minutes, I think that a good way to combat time-wasting by a handful of students is to offer a full-period study hall that is an elective with other interesting electives like art or shop. That way students that may want to take a more interesting class can skip study hall while the students that truly need and value a study hall are still able to have one.
One thing is for sure: the opinions of students vary greatly on this contentious topic.