Open letter about the bell schedule controversy

Dear concerned parents of the Saratoga community,

 

            My name is Alice He and I am currently a senior at Saratoga High. Recently, there has been a series of arguments regarding the new bell schedule between the school board, the parents, and the students. Seeing how hotly debated this issue has been between the school board and the parents, I would like to present a student’s perspective on the new changes in the bell schedule, which I believe has not been formally recognized by both parties, regardless of the countless surveys that have been conducted. As a fourth-year student at Saratoga High who has a rigorous academic schedule and a handful of extracurricular activities, I believe that it is safe to say that I have a good amount of experience of what student life—both academically and socially—at Saratoga High is like. Therefore, I would like to address some of the concerns that you may have facing the students and their success at Saratoga High.

            First of all, I would like to point out that the late start is favorable to many students—I have personally asked friends and classmates of mine, and many agree that the late start will be very beneficial for us. Perhaps it may be troublesome for parents, but isn’t the bell schedule meant to be in favor of the students themselves? Isn’t the purpose of changing the schedule supposed to be lower our stress and improve our health (mainly, receive more sleep)? Looking back, the first semester of junior year was perhaps the most stressful semester I have had so far: I had weekly marching band practices, participated in school clubs, additional volunteer activities, and other extracurricular activities, and I took four AP courses and two Honors courses. Of course, I know parents want to see their children take the most rigorous classes out there and succeed. As a student myself, I am also motivated to take these hard courses and to challenge myself. To be blunt, both parents and students understand that taking such courses and receiving high grades will look good on college applications—and I will say, this is one of the reasons why many of us choose to take AP and honor courses.

            However, during the first semester of my junior year, I juggled too many things at once. My parents’ expectations for me to achieve good grades and still attend all of my extracurricular activities caused me to stress even more, and my sleep schedule gradually shifted from 6-7 hours to 3-4 hours per night (the suggested amount of sleep is actually 8-10 hours according to the National Sleep Foundation).I would go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 2 a.m. to study for various tests and to finish my homework. It was difficult for me to reach my true potential when I would always walk to school feeling tired and sluggish, my body shaking due to the lack of sleep. Therefore, as a student, I believe that the late start will be quite beneficial for my peers. After learning about the original new bell schedule, I was excited to hear that the start time has shifted to a 8:40 a.m. This gives students approximately an extra hour of sleep—something I am quite jealous of as a graduating senior. Truly, I wish that this schedule had been proposed earlier. With only 3-4 hours of sleep per night, students, like me, stress constantly about their academic achievement, and stress even more with the abundance of extracurricular activities that parents encourage us to sign up for. Furthermore, it has been scientifically proven that students need on average 8-10 hours of sleep in order to perform well in their daily activities and to maintain a good health. The National Sleep Foundation and many universities have performed various studies to find the correlation between school start time and student performance. University of Minnesota’s Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom, for example, performed an experiment to demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between later school start time and student achievement (more information can be found on https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/school-start-time-and-sleep).

However, with the recent change into the LG schedule, the start time has been adjusted, yet again, to 8:15 a.m. Even though you may argue that this still gives your child an opportunity to gain more sleep, this would interfere with Redwood Middle School’s start time—in other words, more traffic. The one-lane Saratoga Avenue towards Saratoga High and Redwood Middle will become severely congested, and for concerned parents who have children at both Redwood and Saratoga, this may cause your child to be late to school. Also, from a student’s perspective, I do not believe that simply pushing back the start time 25 minutes will be very beneficial. 25 minutes, relatively speaking, will not be able to help a student catch up on all of the lost sleep from previous night(s). Therefore, I strongly advocate for those concerned to reconsider the original new bell schedule with a start of 8:40 a.m., which will allow students more time to sleep and give you an easier time sending your children to school. If work commute is an issue, you have the option to drop off your child at Saratoga High a bit early if the late start does seem unlikable. Many friends of mine who live close to each other also carpool—another possible option that can be considered because, after all, Saratoga is a community that truly supports one another. I myself always head directly towards the music building every time I arrive at the high school early, giving me some extra minutes to close my eyes and rest on the floor or catch up on some studying and homework (the library is a perfect option, too). Yes, I fully understand that this late start may burden your commute to work—but do you not worry for the health and quality academic performance of your child? From my knowledge and my own life, I know that my parents work every day in order to help me receive a better education, to have a brighter future. Is the issue regarding your work commute something worth debating over your child’s education? Is that not in your mind as you petition to change the new bell schedule?

          With the late start in mind, the debate over the late end (3:40) and the 8th period comes up. Of course, as a student myself, my first thought is: What? Why is school ending 25 minutes later? However, from a student’s perspective, after giving it some thought, I know that most students will not begin homework immediately after school, speaking generally. So what is the difference of ending the school just slightly later? Furthermore, the new 8th period may seem unfavorable to many parents, especially with the fact that students are unable to take on another (eighth) class. However, think of it this way—7 periods of homework is more than plenty, especially when you consider students who take one or more AP and Honors courses. Speaking truthfully, taking one more class will only add more homework and tests, more stress for the students. Will adding one more AP course really make a difference in terms of your child’s success in college? How much will this really weigh in on your child’s college application? To address this issue, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education has recently announced a report on a two-step campaign to reshape the college admissions process; rather than weighing GPA and SAT / ACT scores so heavily, leading colleges are now looking for a new path to look more closely at each student’s true character. This new campaign, Turning the Tide, is the first step to help reduce student stress, to promote more self-confidence in each student’s character, and to encourage students to care more for and support one another, ultimately proving that trying to add in one extra AP or having only a high GPA does not define a student’s achievements and ability to get into a highly-rated college. More information can be found on http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/16/01/turning-tide-inspiring-concern-others-and-common-good-through-college-admissions . In addition, here is a New York Times article discussing the issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/opinion/rethinking-college-admissions.html?_r=2.

The 8th period is meant for students who are in sports team or other school extracurricular activities, whether it is marching band or robotics or drama. This period will allocate specific time for extracurricular activities who are currently asking students to stay three, four hours more after school. As a participant in the marching band in all four years of my high school career, I have been through burning hot Tuesday afternoon rehearsals on the upper field, freezing Thursday evening rehearsals on the Benny Pierce field, early morning Wednesday rehearsals before school, and eight-hour Saturday rehearsals. These rehearsal hours are scheduled often around commitments for sports teams and whenever space is available for us marching band participants. With the 8th period, we will have time specifically allocated for us to rehearse, rather than having our directors ask us to show up at school at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Is this not beneficial for students? Isn’t it better for students to perform their extracurricular during actually allocated school hours, rather than having them stay at school even longer until the late evening?

            Moreover, another concern that was raised is the shorter tutorial times. I understand this topic may be controversial—to some students, it may seem beneficial, and to other students, it may seem like less time to see teachers. Speaking generally, many students use this time to catch up on homework that they have fallen behind in and to ask teachers any questions they may have about homework or class material. This year, I would say that I have used most of my tutorials to ask my AP Physics teacher questions. Personally, I do agree that the daily tutorials will truly be beneficial in this case. Sometimes I feel like tutorials every other day does not give me the opportunity to take some time out of class to ask my teachers questions. Especially in the days preceding a test, there are not enough tutorials for me to go to specific teachers for aid. There are always lots of students who come in and ask questions, so sometimes I do not have the opportunity to even meet with my teachers. With tutorials every day, even though they may be shorter, I believe that it will give students the chance to connect more with their teachers and to ask for more help beforehand, rather than accumulating all the stress the night before a test or a quiz. Of course, many students view tutorials for different purposes—I only expressed my perspective on these new, shorter daily tutorials.

With the new change to the LG bell schedule, a longer tutorial of 35 minutes has replaced the 25 minute tutorial. Of course, I understand that the purpose of this is only to benefit the students. However, sometimes a little too much time on our own isn’t the best idea, either. Daily tutorials are beneficial only to an extent, when there are questions to ask teachers or when there is some homework to catch up on. I would rather finish school slightly early rather than sitting around in the middle of the school day because of this extra time put into the daily tutorials. Of course, I understand this topic is controversial, and I am willing, as are other students, to find a compromise with both the school board and the parents in order to find a more perfect solution.   

            Lastly, I understand that many parents are concerned about their children’s academic success, which of course, will help them get into a better college. Many parents nowadays see these high-ranked colleges—namely the Ivy League universities, the UC’s, and others—and believe that the only way to get into these colleges is by pushing their children to take the hardest courses and take extracurricular activities that will help them stand out. As a senior who recently just finished her college applications, trust me when I say that I understand it all. This letter is not meant to discourage your children from participating in such activities or from taking hard AP and Honors courses. Rather, I just wanted to inform you: taking all of these classes and pushing students past their limit only makes them more stressed, more edgy, maybe even more liable to commit suicide. Much of the stress comes from peer pressure, too. As a student, I, too, am a victim of peer pressure—I see my friends taking hard courses, and in return, I will also mindlessly take these hard courses to match up to them. Sometimes I believe that I push myself more than my parents push me, and this has often led me to a dead end. With the end of my high school journey coming towards me, I realized that the one thing that I wish I had emphasized more in my high school career is passion. With all the activities that I do, there can only be one, or possibly two, that I truly find myself passionate about. The rest of my activities are mindlessly tossed into my schedule, lacking any true achievement, unable to ever become a paramount piece of my life. Rather than asking your child to sign up for five or six clubs and to find various volunteer activities, I encourage for you to tell your child to not spread thin, but rather to look around and find and focus on an activity that he or she truly loves and to pursue it. Of course, more than one activity can be pursued, but I believe that dedication leads to true passion—the ultimate goal. Without any direction, high school will continue to be seen only as an academic arms race—a race that will have no end. For many parents, I am sure that this is not the right pathway that you want your children to take.  But with so much conflict over the number of courses that we are allowed to take, the number of periods and the time allocated for each period, the stress only accumulates, the arms race for higher-ranking colleges only amplifies. Is this how you want your child to view high school?

Everything we get in life requires for us to give a little in order to take a little. Perhaps there are other parts of the schedule that some students disagree with, but if there are parts that are favorable, isn’t that what matters? I understand that parents have their own concerns in mind, and of course they should be voiced—but these concerns should be held under the understanding that not everything can be changed to fit a specific parent’s desire. We are all human. We all have different desires and wants, and we all do not necessarily “want” the same thing. This new bell schedule was originally created in response to the complaints of students of the current schedule, and the school board has worked tirelessly since last year to find a solution to our questions and complaints. I am very appreciative of what the school board has been through in order to find a solution for us, and I know that they are willing to peacefully find a compromise if this new bell schedule is not to our liking. Please understand that the school board has been trying its best to accommodate all of the issues voiced and address them in this new bell schedule. It may be difficult for all the concerns to be addressed, of course, but they are here to help.

            After having lived in Saratoga for almost 10 years of my life, I am very thankful for the supportive and loving community, for the parents and teachers who have encouraged me since my days at Foothill Elementary School, for the pride that we feel when we represent our ourselves, our honest characters, our diversity. Recently, however, I noticed that I have been sent a chain of emails from concerned parents regarding the new bell schedule. I believe that these emails were exclusively for the parents only, but somehow they landed in my inbox as well. Seeing how this new bell schedule affects Saratoga High, a school that I love and cherish deeply, I could not help but read a couple of the concerns mentioned. After reading about the issues revolving around the new bell schedule, I feel crushed, deeply saddened by the divided community, and even violated. What has happened to the unity, the close-knit friendships, the pride that we felt having represented so many cultures, religions, ethnicities in Saratoga? What happened to the love that we felt for all the programs supported by our community, from sports teams to dance teams, from music ensembles to drama? How is it that our community is becoming so divided over a bell schedule? I understand that many parents of all ethnicities are deeply concerned with the new bell schedule, but I do not believe that this issue should be the reason that creates such disunity within our loving community. As a student, I am aware of the number of suicides from high schools near us, and I am aware of the augmenting stress levels due to this academic arms race. However, it is because of Saratoga, because of this supportive community, that I have never felt pushed to take extreme actions in order to escape from the stress or the hardships that I face. Also, the recent rise of CASSY’s support services and student counselors at Saratoga High has been giving students a new outlet for stress relief, and with so many students reaching out to CASSY and their counselors for additional help and support, it is clear that many students have been actively looking for ways to reduce their stress levels. Therefore, any change to the bell schedule made by the school board, which was intended to help reduce stress levels, in the daily schedule of the students should not be so aggressively ousted. And because of such disunity over this current conflict, I feel as if our once loving community has been threatened. This is not the type of community that I had known Saratoga to be for so much of my life. Saratoga is my home, and it always will be. I am thankful for our differences, for the variety of cultures and ethnicities represented in our community, and I hope that in the near future, Saratoga will continue to stay this way.  

            Overall, I hope you understand the concerns from a student’s perspective regarding high school life in general and regarding the new bell schedule. I understand that the debate over new bell schedule has been very frustrating, and I speak on my own behalf, not from the behalf of any of the board members or faculty members. As a student of Saratoga High, even though I am graduating this school year, I only wish for the best for the future of Saratoga High. Even though this new bell schedule will not personally affect me, this heated argument against the new bell schedule is beginning to damage some of the activities that I participate in currently. I hope that you hear out my words and see my perspective to understand how students feel about this. I also hope that many of the concerns within these emails have been addressed in this email, too. If you wish for more information, whether in person or through email, please feel free to contact me at wonderland9810@gmail.com. I am willing to answer any questions or concerns that you have regarding this new bell schedule and its benefits and/or lack of benefits for the students.

Best,

Alice He

Class of 2016

 

Edited and Endorsed by Giulia Corno, Class of 2016  

*If you desire more student perspectives, please do not hesitate to also email Giulia at giujubi@gmail.com for more information.