Students should not view schedules as a rough draft

During the first week of school, the office is filled with students trying to switch their schedules. Dropping, switching and adding classes are all a part of the back-to-school chaos. It seems, though, that many students view their initial class schedules as mere rough drafts.

When students decide on what classes to take in the spring, many decisions are made with the mindset that they can sign up for difficult classes and just drop them later if the workload seems overwhelming.

Thus, eager students fill their schedule with an abundance of AP and Honors classes, reassuring themselves and their parents by saying that they can drop whatever is too hard. What these students don’t realize is that doing so inconveniences both them and the guidance counselors.

The best solution is for students to actually sign up for the classes they intend to take.

These students often fail to take into account the time and effort that goes into planning students’ schedules for the school year. There is, of course, room for change, but it is not always possible to switch or add classes due to scheduling conflicts.

In addition, students have very little time to decide if they want to switch out of an AP or Honors class into a college preparatory class and may make inaccurate judgments.  Students may realize after the two-week limit that the AP class requires more time and effort than they originally thought, only to find that it is too late to switch out into the regular version of the class.

Teachers are also negatively affected by the students’ constant movement in and out of classes.

Class rosters are subject to constant change until at least the second week of school, and teachers are forced to catch new students up to speed. Students, consequently, have to do extra work to get caught up.

Seating charts have to be altered as students who dropped the class leave empty desks, and teachers have to alter the information usually reserved for the first day of school again and again to accommodate the students who are added to the class.

Thus, schedule changes should be considered as a last resort to prevent chaos in the first two weeks of school.

Counselors and teachers are here to help students make the best decisions about their schedules based on what they can handle, so students should not sign up for classes they know will overwhelm them just because they can drop it later.

Students need to put more thought into the classes they sign up for so that they can be guaranteed the classes they want and avoid the stress of a busy and difficult schedule. Of course, they should change their schedules if they are unable to handle their workloads, but it is best if they do not intentionally  sign up for a schedule they are pretty sure they will have to change later on.