Goodbye, Journalism

Registration for the next school year is quickly approaching, but some of the changes being made may cause some controversy. Journalism, as well as many other well-liked electives, are being taken away next year. Taking its place is a new schedule, which includes morning I-Time, a 25-minute study session. I-Time takes place at Ecker Hill Middle School, including grades six and seven. Every I-Time takes place a couple times a week in the morning before first period. I-Time is a chance for kids to make up work, study, and talk to teachers for help, but why do eight and ninth graders need to be babied like that? It is understandable that kids just entering middle school should need a little extra help with learning responsibilities, but by eighth grade, kids should have it figured out themselves. As of eighth or ninth grade, more responsibility is being put on you to get school work done and turned in, but enough that we can handle it ourselves. If the school is holding kid’s hands and giving them extra help to get through school, kids will never learn how to do things for themselves. Everyone needs to learn that they won’t have a parent or adult to help them with school the rest of their lives and at some point they will need to start doing things for themselves.

Now for the electives being taken away… Why are we taking away the fun and educational classes so that teachers can help kids because they can’t get work turned in themselves? If a 13-, 14-, or 15-year-old can’t figure out how to get things done at home and school, then they need to start learning that if they can’t do it themselves, they will just have to live with the consequence. Parents and teachers can’t be hovering over kids making sure they get things done. If things don’t get done, that's on them, and it's their own fault. The electives are fun opportunities for kids to try something new or continue to do something they love - they're important for students to learn and have fun, rather than to just learn, and if electives are being taken away, some kids may have nothing fun to do at school.

What is the point of having I-Time? We had it for two years, and maybe it benefitted some people, but after two years of being helped through middle school, kids need to be able to do it by themselves. Most kids just sat on their computers or phones for all of the 25 minutes just wasting their class time. For kids that have learned how to turn things in and do their work, they don’t benefit at all from the program. There are some kids that need help, but we already have an after-school help lab. Instead of mandating I-Time and cutting electives, would it be that hard to just have kids attend that, or to add another help lab in the morning or something? We already made an effort to help kids, through after-school programs, and if they don’t want to have a good education, that is not the teacher’s problem - it's theirs. Any kid that might want to get a career in writing may never know because they didn’t have the opportunity to try Journalism.