MURRAY, NEB.-Beginning the school year during a pandemic, I wondered how my school would have classes. Normally at Conestoga we have eight classes, with about 45 minutes for each class. But as this year is no normal year, and our school decided to implement block scheduling with four classes each day. Each block lasts about one hour and 45 minutes. Personally, I have really liked having fewer classes each day, having smaller classes, and having more time in class to learn more and to get homework done.

With fewer classes in a day, it makes school a lot less stressful. Normally, I’m scrambling to get my homework done. I would usually have 8 classes a day with homework in each class to get done by the next day. Having practice after school all year long makes it even more stressful, as practices usually last until about 6:30. Not having to do that much homework each day helps a lot. Now that I have only four classes a day with our block schedule homework, managing stress, and keeping grades up is a lot easier.

More time in each class also makes it easier to learn, and to learn more. For instance, in the math classes at Conestoga we learn two lessons a day and take a quiz on them the same day. Normally you would take all week to learn the two lessons and then take a quiz on it on Friday. If you’re anything like me you would thoroughly understand a thing one day and then forget everything you learned by the quiz. The new scheduling keeps it fresh in my brain and allows me to get better grades on tests and homework assignments.

Class sizes are smaller with teachers teaching many different classes of the same class. I’m not the smartest kid in my grade, so for me it is a lot easier to work in smaller classes with block scheduling.

Because this is a new thing, many other people have their own opinions on it. I asked different people in my grade and some said they hated it, and if they had a choice they would go back to eight classes a day. Some said that they liked it and would want to keep it. I also asked some sophomores what their opinions were, and most like it and would want to keep it if they could.

Sophia Tegels, a sophomore at Conestoga, said “I like block scheduling. I feel that it makes us less stressed out like with sports and I feel we have more time to do work.”

This is just one of many students who agree with me on keeping block scheduling and hope to come back to it next year and for those to come.