SHS has made many schedule changes the last few years, from changing lunch times to tackling virtual school. The newest development in the SHS schedule began this quarter, bringing back 2+, a 20 minute study hall after second hour that was introduced before the pandemic. However, is that 20 minutes really doing that much to help out SHS students?

Personally, I believe we are utilizing those 20 minutes in a way that isn’t helpful. I know myself and most people end up not getting much done in 2+ because that short period of time doesn’t really allow students to complete a substantial amount of work. If SHS is going to adjust the schedule to incorporate an additional 20 minutes, I feel like it would be better to incorporate it into the schedule in a more efficient way.

Instead, those extra 20 minutes could be removed from the schedule and reworked, allowing students to get out of school at 3:15 instead of 3:35. Many students are involved with clubs, sports, or work obligations that the later end time conflicts with. The later end time this year has been an issue with some SHS students, and this would give students more time to get out of the building.

Those extra 20 minutes could also be added onto lunch, so students could go off campus and have some time to relax. Currently lunch is only 35 minutes including passing time, so students don’t have that much time to get food or go home. A 55 minute lunch could be very beneficial for students’ mental health and give them a break during school. Then, since lunch would be longer, if students do need to do assignments or make up a test, they could go to the school and finish them sometime during lunch.

2+ isn’t truly beneficial or a long term solution for the workload imposed on students. According to the Washington Post, students spend an average of 2.6 hours on homework, so 20 minutes added onto second hour may not help students make a substantial amount of progress on their homework. There are many ways for the schedule to be reworked to help students manage their homework load in a more efficient way, as well as the issue of how much homework is being imposed on students. I believe that there are better solutions than 2+.