He said…

By Edward Aragon, Contributor

The new schedule will only function because of one reason: we have no choice. In other words, it will have to work because the administration is not giving the students the ability to decide which schedule they prefer, but rather forcing it upon us. This mentality is part of the reason why it will not work. The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” can be immensely applied in this situation. For many years, the block schedule of blue and gold days has worked sufficiently, with lunches split up perfectly for everyone’s convenience and late starts on Thursdays helping everyone get through the week. This begs the question: why change to a schedule that takes away late starts and has a chaotic two lunch period? According to the administration, it is a schedule that will give us, the student body, more breaks during school day. Therefore, minimizing the stress that we endure with the extracurricular activities and school work students juggle.

The problem with this schedule is that although we do get more break times, we also lose class time. Why is this a problem? Well, for AP, IB, and other students drenched with a planner filled with hours of homework, this means less class time to cover units that will contain information that will be on exams. This equates to less time to learn, in depth, what we may not understand. This means more stress toward the end of the year when studying for our exams and effectively rendering the point of the “stress minimizing” schedule completely moot. I do not dispute the fact that the schedule will make teachers’ lives less stressful, but the loss of class time to cover certain units and curriculums will become a problem. The overall idea of a new schedule is a good concept, but why fix something that does not need fixing or changing?

She Said…

Mary Childs, Staff Writer

The 2018-2019 school schedule change at Good Counsel is an event that surely every student has heard about and probably complained about. And understandably so—change can be strange and frustrating to adjust to. At first glance, the new schedule looks thoroughly confusing and all anyone seems to notice is the absence of 8:45 starts. Between alternating gold, blue, even, and odd days, I think most students feel they are going to end up spending the majority of the day just trying to figure out where they are supposed to be. But, after considering the benefits that the new schedule proposes, I think this change could be for the better. 
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The first time I heard about the schedule I was also confused, but if you don’t focus on the label of blue, gold, even, and odd, it’s fairly simple to understand. I will even go as far as to say that I think it may be simpler than the current schedule. For example, instead of asking “Is it a blue or gold day, and is it an A week or a B week?” all you really need to know is what number day it is. If it is a “1 day” that means you go to your first period class at the start of school. 1 is an odd number; therefore, the rest of your classes are 3, 5, and 7 in that order. People find it thoroughly confusing if it is a “3” day because they refuse to think about how simple it is to go to third period first, and then, the rest of the odd numbers between one and eight. Every student in this school knows how to count, and memorizing the numbers associated with your schedule is by no means a difficult or strenuous task.

In addition to alternating periods, the schedule also offers longer lunches and advisory/resource time each day after first period. Longer lunches clearly have several benefits: more time to eat, socialize, work on homework, and relax. Lunch seems to always be a rushed activity with the current schedule and often times the lines are so long that half of lunch has passed before students can even get their food. This longer lunch period will allow students to come and go on their own time and avoid waiting in a monstrous line. The advisory and resource blocks after first period will also most likely benefit most of the student body. This period of time will be ideal for making up quizzes and tests and it will prevent students from having to come in early or stay late while trying to finish up missed work. They will also be very helpful if a student needs more time to finish up an assignment that is due later on during the day or to get a head start on future assignments.  
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All of this being said, the confusion and frustration of change is very understandable. However, I challenge each and every student to consider the upsides of the situation and give the new schedule a chance.