Persuasive Essay

I can't figure out how to keep the paragraphs, sorry.


Pounds of textbooks, binders, and other meaningless school supplies strain down against his shoulders; salty sweat builds up under the black straps of his backpack. He is on his way home to begin his “piles” of homework that has accumulated through his normal school schedule. Fairfield Jr. High is on a regular 7 period Jr. High schedule. The regular schedule consists of 7 periods in a day, the same every day. It has been proposed that Fairfield Jr. High transfer over to the block schedule. The block schedule consists of A/B days, four different classes each day, each day having 90 minute periods. I think that it would be beneficial for Fairfield Jr. High to change over to the block schedule. There are many benefits by changing; first, the block schedule gives students and teachers in the classroom more time for the lesson, second it will decrease the amount of homework given daily, and finally it allows there to be more time to complete homework.

The block schedule has the effect of giving students less homework each night. Theoretically, since a block schedule only has 4 class periods a day, the result would be less homework each night, compared to 7 class periods a day; where it is possible to have 7 periods of homework in one night. Four class periods would assist in remembering what homework has been assigned during school because only four class periods have to be remember instead of seven. In a world where a countless number of students are engaged in a variety of extra-curricular activities, Jr. High students don't have that much time to do their Biology notebook, Web Work, reading, current events, term projects, math, band practice, term writing assignments, and a “bunch” of other assignments that are assigned for home. I think that I speak for all the students when I say that less homework each night is a good thing.

A block schedule can also allow more time to complete daily homework for example, if a class is taken every other day; then the students have the extra day, given in a block schedule, to go into the teacher's classroom and ask questions on problems not understood which could be very beneficial. My sister, who is currently on the block schedule in high school, says that it is very helpful to have classes every other day as it allows her more time to ask her teacher questions. More time for homework also allows for more time to work harder and do a better job. In a study from Dave Vawter, a high school teacher, it was found that a variety of schools around the country have switched to block schedule and after two years they asked the teacher and students if they liked it the response to the switch from the teachers and students was quite favorable. This is an important reason to me why Fairfield Jr. High should switch to the block schedule.

Lastly, block schedules give not only just students, but teachers also, more time in class to accomplish or teach the things that need to be taught or accomplished. Consider a 45 min. class that has just have been given an assignment 5 min. before class ends. In a natural response, students vigorously try to complete the assignment when a problem is reached that they have no idea what to do on it. A student is about to go and ask the teacher for help when the bell rings, leaving the student still without an answer to the question. Robert Lyn Canady, a professor at the University of Virginia said:

"It is hard to fit a hands-on activity into a 45 min class period. With longer class periods it gives students more time for hands on activities and to ask questions to fully understand the assignment”.

In the study by Dave Vawter, a similar result of changing to block schedule was a decrease in the amount of “fails”. It makes sense that the amount of fails decreased as the students who didn't have enough time to understand the assignment didn't do it resulting in a zero for the assignment. With more time in each class period it would give teachers more time to teach a specific concept, or the class can have enough time to do in class projects, thereby decreasing the amount of “fails”.

It is said that teachers would have to undergo training in order to handle the longer classes. Even if teachers might have to go through training, I don't think that there would be much change to teaching a longer class period; one of the things that they could do is combine a two day lesson into one. It is also said that 7th graders aren't mature to handle 90 min classes, but in elementary students have gone a whole day in one class, causing their attention span to lengthen through their years in elementary school. Having a class everyday would allow a student to have more consistent exposure to a subject and allow them to come up with better questions to ask the teacher, thus helping them to gain a higher level of understanding.

I believe that it would be in Fairfield Jr. High's best interest to switch to the block schedule. The block schedule allows less homework each night, which is always a good thing; more time to complete that homework, and last but not least, the teachers would have more time to teach the lesson and allow students to have more time to participate in their class. So what are you going to do about this, I am definitely for the block schedule. I look forward to that day when Fairfield Jr. High will be on the block schedule.