When I was in high school I always had one or two periods of study hall every day. Sometimes we studied and did homework, sometimes we played thump football, and I would always manage to read the newspaper almost in its entirety. I probably got more education our of the newspaper reading than any other activity I undertook each day. My wife is a former school principal and tells me that study halls are almost non-existent these days.
For the upcoming school year my son sought and was given the right to have a study period in the school library. The school doesn't ordinarily have "study halls." Apparently a few other students are going to be given a study period. He said the new school principal had a rather shocked look on his face when he looked at his schedule, which includes five AP classes, Chem, Eng. III, BC Calc, Stats, USHistory, World History; along with regular German III.
I'm glad my son is being given a study period as I think he needs the extra time to study (he also is not going to work this fall). But I think every student would benefit from at least one study hall period. I would much rather students have a chance to do some or all of their homework at school instead of being forced to do everything at night. Does anyone agree?
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