For this issue, Call Ed is taking a stance on a controversial topic among students: summer work. Though it is rare for students to actually enjoy summer work, TKC acknowledges its purpose with 67 percent (61/91) of our staff believing modified summer work syllabi should be required and 60 percent (55/91) seeing it as beneficial to the beginning of the next school year.
As the clocks wind down to 12 p.m. on May 24, the freedom-seeking energy of sleep-deprived students rises from classrooms around KHS. They pound their fists, sore from essay writing, on their desks, chanting, "Summer. Summer. Summer. Summer." As voices grow louder and louder, raspy from one Spanish speaking test too many, the bell finally rings. They jump out of their seats and dump old tests in the recycling bins on their way out the door. But alas, they were not quick enough to escape their impending doom. "Wait!" the teacher screeches. "I forgot to hand out your summer work!" Needless to say, KHS's High School Musical moment didn't end so well.
After the fail of an attempted end-of-school flash mob, we don't want to start our summer break with a backpack-load of renewed stress, so communication is key. Teachers: don't throw a handout at your class in the last minutes of the last day of school, because that just doesn't cut it. Like any other assignment, it would be helpful to actually hear what we have 2 1/2 months to complete so we aren't scrambling for answers the day before school starts again. As much as we hate it, feel free to shove announcements down our throats. Shout our assignments from the rooftops until we eat and breathe summer work. Just make sure half the class doesn't show up having read Lord of the Flies instead of Animal Farm. It's awkward for everyone.
50.7 percent (84/166) of KHS students never start their summer work before August.
Even if every student has the correct assignment finished, we don't appreciate spending hours of our supposedly "free" time working if assignments get turned in just to be left on teachers' desks all year. That is, if they're even collected at all.
55.8 percent (96/172) of KHS students do not find summer work beneficial once the school year begins.
Believe it or not, high schoolers sometimes need a break. After 10 consecutive months of schoolwork, limiting the quantity of summer work we receive would be nice. Nicer than nice. The nicest. Such an insane amount of nice that a student lifeguard wouldn't have to debate between saving that drowning human and finishing their twelfth essay.
68.9 percent (124/180) of KHS students said their teachers adequately follow up on summer work once the school year begins.
Alright, we'll step off our platform now. If anything else, us students would appreciate a little more freedom. Of course, we could spin this editorial as long as the list of essays and packets lined up for completion this summer, but we should probably do those first. *Sigh* At least we know our brains won't rot.