For as long as I can remember, school will always start with a homeroom. A ten to fifteen minute period at the start of every day that was for taking attendance of students, then sending them on their way to their first class. Over the years there have been many changes to the homeroom set up. Sometimes making it longer, shorter and on some occasions removing it all together. Many arguments have risen debating which of these actions have benefited the most. I’m glad to be able to share my own experiences with homeroom and how it has benefited me and how it sometimes hasn’t benefited me at all. Also bringing up some of the more valid arguments on the topic.

Over my years I have experienced many changes personally to the homeroom. In my opinion the best situation for me as a student was to remove the homeroom block all together. To students this sounds like the worst possibility to happen. But if you sit down and think about it, it’s honestly the best decision to make. Removing the homeroom opens up more room for time on learning. Time on learning is a very big part of our public schools and we won’t as much as that as possible. So being able to remove a 20 minute period of nothing, to be able to add that to time on learning is very good.

I have talked to teachers about this topic and as expected I had mixed responses. Most just didn’t seem to care about what happens to the homeroom class and others seem really against having it. The teachers that were against it had very good reasons why. Some feel as if their class is too short to be able to fit a large topic in one sitting. So they would like to have an extra minute or two to help their students in understanding the topic at hand. Some teachers feel as if homeroom is just a chunk of wasted time in the day. They feel as if homeroom being a 20 minute period to just take attendance is unneeded. What surprised me though was there wasn’t a teacher that was supportive of the situation. Of course this might fall under me not interviewing enough people to get the response. But it is clear that homeroom is not very liked by most and is just irrelevant to others.

But if there’s a situation about a school, the student’s voice matters as much if not more than the staff. So just like how I had gone around and asked the teachers, I asked some of my fellow classmates as well. As I expected there was more support for the homeroom period than not. The general reasoning for the support was that it was a period of time where students have time to wake up. To get mentally prepared for the day ahead. Also to eat the breakfast they bought or made without feeling the need to rush. Another reason I heard most is that it allows students to get more rest. Students, especially in the later half of high school, find trouble getting the amount of rest they need. Most participate in sports, work late hours, or do other activities that need them to stay later than the end of the day. They feel if they didn’t have the 20 minutes every morning that they would get burnt out much more quickly and fall behind. Some students felt the same way the teachers and staff have felt saying it was a waste of time. Along with a larger group saying they felt indifferent about homeroom.

Homeroom is still a large discussion with our school. With many valid reasons to go against it or to support it. It doesn’t seem like a solution is coming just yet but it might in the future. Whether you love it or hate it. But for now the homeroom class keeps it’s spot on everyone’s schedule.  And it’s not going anytime soon.