At Mount Vernon High School, freshman and sophomore students are required to stay two extra classes three times a week. One of those classes is Win, which is essentially a 30 minute period every block Wednesday after your 2nd period class. The other class that we are required to stay for is Homeroom, which is another 30 minute class period two times a week. Both of the homeroom classes are on block days, and if you are a freshman you will have homeroom and health on Tuesday block, and regular homeroom on Wednesdays.
The issue is that Homeroom and Win are a waste of time to students and teachers. No one uses that time effectively or does the health in those homeroom times, and both of which are filler classes. When people walk into both Homeroom and Win, they will see lots of students either playing uneducational games, or doing unproductive activities just to waste time because they do not have anything to do.
Both Homeroom and Win are built in for extra time to finish work that may not be completed. In theory this is a good idea, but when students have all of their work finished they are just sitting there and nothing is being completed. Furthermore, some teachers continue the class period through that specific time, which could be considered unfair to other students who never get that extra time to learn that subject.
Mount Vernon High School should arrange Homeroom and Win for people who need or want that extra time. Students who are not doing very well in school, or are failing classes could be required to take these classes just so they can get the extra help they need to succeed in school. To add, both classes should be optional to attend and not forced upon the underclassman students. Mount Vernon can find an alternative time that is not right in the middle of the day. These periods of time could be at the end of the day or at the start of the day, and this would save wasted time from both students and teachers.
Another solution to this problem could be to input a “Study hall” into the options of classes you are able to pick before the semester. This class being offered could give the students who are not passing classes, and students who simply just need time to finish school work, time to fulfill good grades and pass their classes.
