As members of the Clayton community, students, teachers and parents know that CHS has an excellent science program.
Lab periods, twenty minutes every-other day tacked on to the end of a science class, allow students to experience hands-on science through a lengthened class period. Many teachers use the time for extended lectures or more in-class practice. Perhaps Clayton’s excellent science program can be attributed to these lab periods, at least in part.
However, these lab periods may be causing just as much inconvenience as they are benefits. Those extra twenty minutes every other day create more unnecessary empty time than extra learning, take away the opportunity to fit another class into a course schedule, and make the curricular balance of Clayton students lopsided.
Think about this: for every minute of “lab period” time, three times as many minutes magically turn to free period in its wake. That’s, assuming the minimal school term of 174 days, over three days of cumulative unscheduled time caused by lab periods. Teachers and counselors may argue that this is a good thing, that it gives students a break from the hard work they do in class. However, with colleges to impress and requirements to fulfill, students may not want any empty space in their schedule.
On the other hand, because many science classes at CHS take up two class periods, students may not be able to fit a lunch into their schedule. If faced with the choice between filling, say, the American Government requirement and eating lunch, many a dedicated Clayton student will choose to take Government. Without those twenty minutes tacked on to the end of certain science class periods, students would have more options in their class schedule.
In addition to students whose interest lies in subjects other than science, students who want to enroll in more science classes are also put at a disadvantage. Many students take two AP science courses simultaneously. While students who can handle such a course load should be applauded, they are instead being put at a disadvantage by filling half of the school day with only two classes. Students who wish to take multiple science classes at once may be forced to take required classes during the summer to accommodate classes that would normally fit in to one class period for one semester.
Science classes have a reputation of being some of the most work-intensive courses available at Clayton. Could the intensity of these classes stem from the disproportionately long time spent on them during the school day? Perhaps science teachers are more likely to assign a bigger homework load because of the extra time allotted to them, creating an unbalance between science and other core subjects. I have heard many an English teacher bemoan the fact that his or her students put so much time and effort into their science homework, while completely neglecting to complete assignments for another subject.
Of course, the value of science should not be downplayed. Science is an important subject for all CHS students, but it should not be viewed as more important than any other core subject. By allotting science classes more time than English, math and history classes, the school sends the message that science should take precedence over other subjects. In conjunction with Clayton’s expectation of excellence, the greater length of time associated with science contrasted with the short class period of every other class creates the student mindset that every other class should be an easy A.
In order to place proper emphasis on every academic subject, the playing field must be evened. The allusion that science teachers have more knowledge to bestow upon their students is a misconception created by the emphasis put on that subject. Every teacher and every subject have an equally vast amount of material to squeeze into the school day, and science, although important, should not have a longer class period than every other subject.