Early scheduling for 2020-2021 school year proves to be premature, causes unnecessary stress
Photo contributed by the Staples website
The Staples Guidance Department has started to discuss course selection for the 2020-2021 school year. All students have received a course selection “fact sheet”, giving students the information they need to consider when selecting courses for the next school year.
On Dec. 12, just like any other day, I walked into my weekly “Connections” meeting hoping to have the traditional 20 minutes of time. Despite my wanting to simply communicate and relax before the day proceeded, I was struck with the stressful news that we would be discussing our schedules for the 2020-2021 school year.
With all the overload of work and immense amount of stress that all students are under at this point of the year, introducing scheduling for the following school year in December is premature and opens up endless opportunities for increased stress.
For some people, course selection can be just as overwhelming as doing work for current classes. The perfect “balance” of rigor and relaxation classes is a trend among Staples, ensuring that the students’ schedules do not reach in an overload of work. Finding this balance takes time, and is not as quick and easy of a process as the guidance counselors make it seem.
Considering that Staples is approaching one of the most stressful times of the year– with the end of the first semester and midterms increasing pressure on students–the guidance department must wait until later in the school year when students must actually select their classes for the 2020-2021 school year. Generally, the guidance department calls in each individual student to conference about which courses they will select, generally around February or March–not December.
The looming idea of new classes while current classes are not even halfway through prohibits students from focusing on the courses they are enrolled in at the moment.
With guidances’ endless efforts to decrease stress–mostly around the time of midterm exams— the counselors should put the schedule talk on pause and wait for a time where stress is low and students are able to be clear-headed when going through this process, rather than dreading it.
Introducing scheduling for the 2020-2021 school year right now is far too much in advance and should be put on hold until stress levels are not as high. By pushing the course selection process back, students will be able to carefully select their classes and not have to add this to the long list of assignments at school to worry about.
