Scheduling Issues in Seventh Grade

By Pola Skawinski and Jules Fontana
Jan 18, 2023

Have you ever felt stressed because of your workload? Or because of rules that feel unfair?

Our school, specifically the 7th-grade students, are having trouble with class timing and test scheduling. On one day this year, we had 3 tests! And our teachers and deans expect us to use the bathroom, get water, and climb up 5 flights of stairs during the 3-minute passing period and they also expect us to be on time. This is unfair to students because we have to meet so many requirements which is really hard to do. And we feel that these requirements should be lessened to cause less stress for students.

Testing Overlaps

On November 15th, the seventh grade had three assessments in one day. This type of schedule can lead to stressed and burnt-out students.“It makes me feel bad and stressed when we have multiple tests, and also it just doesn’t make sense. Like why can’t they space tests out?” said Dylan Ray, an East Side 7th grader. This interview is an example of a student showing how these scheduling issues affect them, and their emotions. Dylan also says, “I feel exhausted and anxious after several tests in one day, especially in subjects I struggle with.”

As students ourselves, we feel that Dylan summed up test scheduling issues very well. Studying for several tests like this can lead to stress and unwanted feelings. In an article by the Westshore Roar a Highschool student at Westshore High says: “I think it’s dumb,” junior Shaye Wilson said (about test scheduling). “By the third test I’m burned out, and I can’t focus.” which is completely understandable based on those circumstances. We, as students, would really prefer if we only had one assessment a day.

Bathroom Limits

As seventh graders, we should be able to use the bathroom at appropriate times whenever we have to. Unfortunately, this is sometimes not the case because of past incidents in the bathrooms. But our punishment shouldn’t be taking away our ability to use the bathroom for 20 minutes of class.

Noga Wald, a seventh grader at ESCHS, explained how she felt about these rules and she said “Not being able to use the bathroom within the first or last 10 minutes of class is totally ridiculous, because if I have studio and I need to walk up 2 flights of stairs to go to the bathroom before a class and then having to be late is crazy.”

Passing Time

Another issue we have is our passing time, our teachers always tell us to use the bathroom, get water, and go up/down the stairs to our classes. And we have a passing time of 3 minutes. Many students think that’s very overwhelming and just too much to do in 3 minutes. an anonymous 7th grader said “I feel like it’s way too short. I think it's kind of annoying how the teachers get upset when we take ‘so long”’.

In conclusion, we believe that seventh graders should be given more time during passing periods to do what our teachers expect us to do before and after class. And we ask that our teachers loosen their expectations a bit, to make them more realistic.