All 8 Classes a Day: Productive or Exhausting?

Due to COVID-19, the Ridgewood Board of Education had to organize a new schedule that the school district would follow during this unprecedented school year. The decision made implemented a schedule where students would have all eight of their classes each day. Although this schedule attempted to make the school days more productive, the change of routine resulted in mixed opinions. Some stated that the schedule was productive while the majority agreed that it was exhausting. Ms. Pinches, a teacher at RHS, said, “The schedule is both productive and exhausting. It allowed us to get a good start into the curriculum for the school year; however, it is exhausting because students had to account for a lot more work that they were not used to having. Also, teaching every class every day can be hard for teachers.” 

Similarly to Ms. Pinches’ opinion, the majority of students at RHS felt the schedule was exhausting and rather unproductive. Many students reported that due to the new schedule, they received a lot more homework than they had in previous school years at RHS. Countless students also reported that they were not getting enough sleep as a result of staying up all night in an effort to complete eight classes worth of homework. This meant that students could not prioritize when they wanted to do their work because they were forced to do it all in one night. 

Overall, the new schedule did not receive much positivity. With teachers having to teach more, students having an increased amount of homework as well as less free time, the schedule was mainly exhausting. Due to the extremely taxing schedule, the school days were, unfortunately, not as enjoyable for students and teachers as they could have been. After listening to widespread feedback and several opinions regarding the unfavored schedule, it became evident that having six classes a day, rather than eight classes a day, worked better for both teachers and students. Thankfully, the students’ and teachers’ voices were heard and taken into account; a revised schedule was put in place on September 29th, 2020 which included a variation on the six-period rotation that many longed for. 

Michael Hanna
staff writer

Graphic: Vivian Yuan