Block scheduling is undoubtedly the biggest change our school has endured since I have been here. Although we have not seen block scheduling yet, we have been provided with a detailed outline of how it will be enacted. There are many pros to block scheduling, and I believe that it will be an improvement to the learning environment at James Caldwell High School. However, there are some negatives to it as well, and this will highlight both the good and the bad elements of our new scheduling.

Let’s start with the good. Block Scheduling adds multiple new classes. The Business and

Marketing classes are very good additions to the curriculum. These classes will be good for anyone who wants to enter a career in the business world, which is a large amount of students. They now don’t have to wait until college to learn about their field, and will have a head start. There is also the addition of regular level statistics. Personally, I am extremely happy with this. I struggle with Math, and I believe that statistics will be a more enjoyable and more productive class than Pre-Calc. I also am very happy that we have the opportunity to pick another class. This opens up the door to classes that we may not have been able to take with the current schedule. I have never had the experience of dropping a class every day, so I do not know how I will like it. However, it does seem interesting, and there are certain classes that I will likely want a break from every once in a while. I feel as though block scheduling will make my academic involvement more focused and expanded.

These are all good things, yes, but there are certainly bad ones as well. One of them is lab. Lab will now become an hour and a half long one out of four days. This is the same amount of time it takes to sit for a midterm. I do not see why lab should be this long, and it is likely that a larger amount of kids than usual will drop a Science from their schedule. I love my Science class, but I begin to lose focus around the 50 minute mark. I don’t believe I am the only one who feels this way, and an hour and a half lab will lead to an unfocused and unengaged classroom. I also don’t like how AP Government and AP Human Geography are switched to a full year course. I understand why they are, but I was caught off guard when I heard that. This puts me in a very tough position, because I have to decide which electives to sacrifice for the two AP classes. I also wish that there was an optional class to take during lunch. Most people do not agree with this, and like the concept of an hour long lunch. I completely understand that, but I would personally prefer to take an additional class during that time period, even if it isn’t one that I am super passionate about. It takes me ten minutes at most to eat lunch, and I just wish there was another optional class that I could take in this time to advance my studies.

All in all, block scheduling will be an interesting new addition to the curriculum. I, along with everyone else, have no clue how it will go. However, based on the information supplied to us, there are pros and cons alike.