Photo courtesy of Johnson City Press

Every IHA girl loves having half days and getting out of school early every now and then. This is just one of the perks of having F-days at IHA. Some people do not like the current IHA schedule right now, but I feel that the schedule is adequate the way that it is, and that no changes should be made. I feel that four, one-hour periods and one, forty-five minute period is an efficient schedule set up. Schedules at other schools vary, and some schools have more classes for a shorter period each day, while others have fewer classes for longer periods each day.

The IHA schedule is suitable the way it currently is because one-hour periods are a sufficient length to accomplish and cover the required material without making the period unnecessarily long so students begin to lose interest. I feel that if the periods were longer than one hour, students would begin to focus less towards the end of the period. I also feel that having one 45-minute period a day is great because it is a small “break,” and students get to have one class that is shorter during the day.

Another positive aspect about the schedule at IHA is that it is a rotating schedule, and every day each student drops 2 to 3 classes. The result is that each night students do not have to complete homework for those classes, which is helpful on nights when the homework load is heavy. On the contrary, some schools have schedules where students have every class each day of the cycle. Having a schedule set up this way would be a disadvantage to the students at IHA because it would result in having to prepare for two extra classes each night. Another downside of having each class every day would be that each lesson would consist of a shorter period of time, and it would be more difficult to cover all the material in this abbreviated period.

One benefit of F-days is that students occasionally get a 12-40 dismissal.
Photo courtesy of Stocksy

An advantage to IHA schedules is having a study once a cycle, which is extremely helpful for students. During this precious one-hour period, students have the ability to finish up their homework or study for a test they have later that day. Although an hour may sound like it would not make a big difference, it is very helpful to have an additional hour of free time to finish up homework from the night before.

Furthermore, F-days consist of only 4 classes, two of which are shortened. These days at the end of the cycle are a treat for students, because students have a shortened day that passes much quicker.

F-days are also great opportunities for school assemblies, as they do not require any class time to be lost. It is extremely convenient that there is already time allotted in the schedule for assemblies every cycle, and it is a luxury for IHA because when this assembly period is not needed, there is a 12:40 dismissal instead.

The future schedule of IHA is still undetermined, but hopefully F-days will remain.

By Bernadette Goratowski’19, Photography Editor