Study hall changes: no big deal if rules aren’t enforced

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Cassandra Xavier

Senior Abby Douglas, left, says that new study hall rules often go unenforced.

At the beginning of January, new rules were implemented in AMSA study halls. These included a call to study/work for the duration of the period, stricter music policies, limited talking, and the potential for assigned seating.

There was initial resistance by students, who collectively cried foul, but attitudes have since changed.

The reason? In many study halls, “the rules aren’t enforced,” according to senior Abby Douglas—a statement that seems to be a common refrain among students.

“We got assigned seats, but we still talked and sat where we wanted to,” senior Kayla LaPan said.

This isn’t the case in all study halls, however.

“I’ve had to get a pass to talk to the person next to me to do homework,” sophomore Hanna Bergman said.

This has some students taking on novel strategies.

“I avoid study hall now,” senior Emil Adolphs said. “I’ve opted to spend time with teachers instead so I don’t have to deal with rules that restrict my learning.”

That seems to be the exception. Several students noted that although the intention of the new rules caused much discontent, it has made little change in actual practice.

The big change is student reaction now versus when the rule changes were first announced. In a survey by The AMSA Voice sent to high school students by email through Google Forms between Jan. 19 and Jan. 27, 224 of 242 respondents said that they disagreed with the rules to some degree (options included “somewhat disagree,” “disagree,” and “strongly disagree”).

Nine agreed (with similar options to disagreeing) and the remaining nine responded “don’t care/neutral.” That means that 93 percent of students who took the survey disagreed with the rules.

The poll asked first to what degree students agreed or disagreed with the rules. Then it routed them to a second question asking why they agreed or disagreed, depending on their first answer. It asked whether they believed the new rules would be effective in promoting a more productive study environment and offered an option for a written summary of their thoughts.

Many students believe that study hall is their time and they can utilize it at their discretion.
Cassandra Xavier
Many students believe that study hall is their time and they can utilize it at their discretion.

Junior Patrick Huie summarized most of the students’ responses in his response: “To be quite honest, the new rules don’t really affect me. I take three APs, so my study hall every day is one of my most valuable periods out of the day.”

Patrick added, however, that rules such as “kids will be in their seats before the bell rings” and “only one kid out at a time” seem a little bit harsh. “We are high schoolers, not fourth graders. Our study halls are ours to either utilize or to relax.”

Patrick’s opinion that study hall was students’ free time to use as they see fit, provided they are not disturbing others, was shared by 202 others. The next most popular reason for disagreeing was that the new rules discourage collaborative work, with 180 students giving that response.

“The new study hall rules prevent any possibility of collaborative work, which the real world is full of,” sophomore San Frechette wrote. “Nothing is more ‘professional’ than respectfully working with your peers to solve issues.”

Somewhat lost in the debate is the latitude given teachers to provide an environment that works best in any given situation, on any given day.

This was one of the primary topics in an interview with Dr. Michael Curry, AMSA’s principal. In the end, Dr. Curry said that “allowing collaborative work is at the discretion of the teacher.”

The teachers are the ones at the head of the classroom who know the class’s personality and the history of the study hall, and by Dr. Curry’s reasoning, it is each teacher’s responsibility to decide if allowing collaborative work will be productive or if it will just degenerate into off-topic talking.

“Teachers have to consider the whole room,” Dr. Curry said.

Additionally, students pushed back against the rules restricting access to music.

“I do understand, however, that the rules have come for a reason,” Patrick conceded. “Often times, students in study hall can be distracting to the surrounding classes. Even my own study halls can be a little bit distracting at times—but listening to music solves that problem effectively.”

Dr. Curry said that while he thinks wanting to listen to music is a valid request, accessing that music through cell phones is off limits until the phone policy is amended, if it is amended at all.

Patrick brought up the possibility of multiple sections or separate areas for study halls.

“I believe that we should just have open periods,” he said. “Kids who want to use study hall spaces will be quiet, because they choose to be there. Others who want to sit and talk in the cafeteria can do so, because they choose to relax during their study halls.”

Dr. Curry also addressed the possibility of splitting study halls into silent and collaborative sections, but it isn’t coming any time soon.

For the moment, it is what it is.