Students struggle with workload under new rules
Recent changes regarding newly enforced Learn policies have begun to spark disagreement among students. In September, administration began new, controversial Learn policies due to past misuse of the period, which is intended for teachers to offer help. Faculty implemented a policy of sweeping students into classrooms if they are in the hallway when the bell rings and withdrew the ability to move between rooms during the period.
Junior Maheen Saeed said these new rules conflict with her busy work schedule and prevents her from getting as much done as possible.
“I’m not going to talk to a teacher for 10 minutes and then stay in that classroom,” Saeed said. “I have other things to do and I want to do them during that 45 minutes.”
Junior Thomas Rothman said he sympathizes with students who are not available to meet with teachers outside of the Learn period because of after school activities and need to visit with multiple teachers a day to stay on track.
“Especially if the student is sick and they have a lot of work to make up, they can’t spend Learn with one teacher a day,” Rothman said. “It definitely defeats the purpose of Learn.”
Sophomore Avery Burke said the restraint on students’ Learn location may be doing the opposite of what the administration intended it to do.
“I think it’s doing more harm than help,” Burke said. “I get that they don’t want kids wandering the halls during Learn, but I think there are also different ways they could regulate that besides keeping kids in one classroom the whole time.”
Senior Oliver Church said he agrees that some students need additional guidance to use Learn in a productive manner, but these rules also affect the students who don’t need extra instruction.
“I’m not sure if they’re really necessary for the majority of the student population,” Church said. “I understand there are some people that are struggling and need to be forced to go somewhere, but a lot of people don’t need a bunch of intervention if they’re doing fine in their classes.”
While freshman Elizabeth Epstein said she is not familiar with previous Learn policies, she doesn’t believe these rules benefit her learning.
“I think this rule is very limiting, considering you can only do one thing per Learn,” Epstein said.