*This article was written prior to the discussion of the future of AP classes.
Arts balanced with academics. LaGuardia High School’s administration swells with pride at the idea of their successful combination of the two. But this year, this was one of the administration's many shortcomings.
The beginning of the current school year brought with it many surprises. Of all these, perhaps the most surprising was the schedule. The introduction of the new “Semester Schedule” astounded many in its style and length, especially when it came to drama classes.
For those reading this who don’t go to LaGuardia, the arts block schedule for drama majors at the start of the year involved two and a half hours of instruction on Wednesdays, one hour each on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and 6 full hours on Fridays (for some Wednesday and Fridays are switched, with the longer stretch on Wednesdays). But it only got worse from there. In the second semester, instead of one hour each for three weekdays, drama “singletons” were moved to period 5 for Juniors. Period 5 comes with two issues- it is only 40 minutes long, and the lunch period.
The new schedule academically came with several benefits- less homework (which often but not always leads to earlier bedtimes), the ability to only worry about half of the classes at once, and the short time spent in class on days with academics. The days with academic classes are only 4 hours long on average, 5 hours and 20 minutes at the most.
But despite these practical reasons for the Semester Schedule, there are destructive consequences, most notably for those taking AP classes. AP classes, along with all others were pushed into a single semester. So, an advanced class with 10 months worth of material was forced into about 5 months. Teachers had to cram all of the information they would normally have plenty of time to teach into a short period of time, stressing out teachers and students alike. Not only that, but AP classes were also forced into the first semester, meaning that all information taught would be lost in the 4 months of new classes between the last official AP class and the exam. The school’s solution? Strongly advise us not to take the exam, resulting in 5 months of hard, excess work not leading to any of the beneficial extra credit. For those determined to take one despite the “warnings” (that came across more as angry tirades) made by the administration, they would be provided with AP prep classes once a week— and these AP classes would not be covering material missed by the teacher due to the extremely short length of the first semester. This idea was so illogical that LaGuardia students did what they do best and found their own solutions to the administration’s problems In this case, a group was started for students to do their own tutoring of each other, to ensure that students would indeed be ready for what many have been working so hard on.
The flaws of the Semester Schedule can luckily be shown mathematically, thanks to survey results from the first half of March. While most who took the surveys marked themselves as “parents,” one can easily assume, especially based on what they’ve heard from peers, that these ideas are reflected commonly. A mere fourth of those surveyed supported the Semester Schedule. About 350 people out of 462 expressed the belief that the teacher did not have enough time to cover all of the material. While one may see this as there still being a fourth of the school that supports this schedule, the blatant truth is that the administration can and must do better for virtual classes to come.
Now we get to quite possibly the biggest mistake of the selection of how semesters would work, and in the difference between the two semesters- the studio classes. The problem here is several fold. Primarily, the fact that someone got it into their head that a 6 hour drama class over a video service would be beneficial is baffling. While a 6 hour class in an actual drama studio in person might not sound all that bad to some students (many would likely say just the opposite), any class of that length online, with the expectation that students learn and take in the information given to them, is perturbing. One of the many issues is the “zoning out” a class of that length causes. It is highly likely that every single drama student has zoned out at least once during these 6 hour blocks- checking a text on their phone turning into an Instagram scroll, resting their eyes from the screen turning into staring into space indefinitely, slight movement to become more comfortable turning into an excuse to walk around the house, all possibilities when a student has to sit staring at a screen for 6 hours. And it is extremely important to note that this is through no fault of the studio teachers. Drama teachers work their hardest to keep class entertaining, full of participation and experiences, along with lectures and videos, but no matter how often students are able to participate, the wall of virtual space created by class over Zoom will prevent them from truly “staying in the moment” throughout the class, as students are taught to do in their acting.
The opposite direction is in no way the way we should go either, as was directly demonstrated recently with the changing of schedules that accompanied the new semester. Drama classes on academic days were typically third period last semester for Juniors, providing a peaceful blend between the academic and artistic. This blend existed for those in other years as well. And then that was changed. Junior drama majors now face the period 5 drama class. In total, with this change, students now have an hour LESS of drama total every week. A sophomore expressed how in his schedule, he no longer has the single period of drama that used to be on Mondays and Fridays for his class, and his Tuesday drama class is now Period 0, also 40 minutes in length, and earlier than any other class time. So not only are Juniors facing the problem of less class time, but other grades are too. According to Ella Niewood, current Junior drama major, “we don't have enough time” for teachers to teach everything they want to. This, one can assume, is now true for all drama classes that were cut in time or cut entirely.
On top of this decrease of drama time during the “regular” schedule, a class starting at 8:30 A.M. instead of the usual 9:10 A.M. or a class during a lunch period adds further detrimental effects. An earlier time, especially for a class that requires as much energy as drama often does, is poor for a student's health and sleep schedule. Even though 8:30 is slightly later than first period started before March 2020, it’s early compared to the time class typically starts for most LaGuardia students this year, and still causes difficulties. Having the drama period for students during the lunch period is also troublesome, as this means that one must have lunch during a free period, which often comes at times too early to eat lunch, or, assuming they want to take advantage of office hours, could be 2:00, 2:30, or even later than that.
This schedule obviously comes with it’s benefits, but it is clearly very far from ideal, especially in terms of the essential drama periods. Ella Niewood puts it best: “I understand where [the creators of the schedule] are trying to come from, but it is not a well thought out schedule for students’ mental health and well being.” While coming up with schedules for 2,800 LaGuardia students must be arduous and at times impossible, those in charge of this process must put the “mental health and well being” of the students first. Without a schedule that optimizes these traits, LaGuardia can’t expect its students to thrive.