The point of homeroom’s existence evades every student on campus. It is pretty fair to say that this poor replacement of office hours is useless to everyone. The arrival of homeroom came as a shock, appearing out of the blue with little to no explanation; the confusion and rage among students is understandable.

Claremont High School claims that homeroom is an academic-free period, meaning that no homework is to be assigned and work from outside classes cannot be completed. In turn, it is now known as a period for socialization in which students are not allowed to pick where they sit nor who is in the class with them or even the teacher who teaches the class. However, it is a lie pushed by the district onto teachers who do not even know how to keep their students entertained. The lesson plan feels as if it was made hastily the night before. Teachers treat seniors like kindergarten students, giving them post-it note activities on how their day has been, and trying to entertain them like half are not already adults. Teachers are just trying their best to work with what they have, and do what the lesson plans dictate. The more we follow this copy-and-paste method of schooling, the more students will reject the idea of a schooling institution at all. If this is a freshman student’s introduction to a high school, how can this school expect any sort of respect?

If Claremont High School had any sense and truly wished to remove the academic aspect of school for even just a period; then they would have kept office hours. The justifications for homeroom’s existence make no sense as well. Officially office hours were removed to make it easier to track the student body’s whereabouts in case of emergency, but this logic falls flat as you consider office hours’ longstanding history in the school. Why have office hours just recently become insufficient in tracking the location of students? Is it not simple enough to enforce teachers to take attendance during Office Hours? In years prior, office hours served as both an integral social and academic part of a student’s day. If students wished to hang out with friends they could have planned out what classroom it was alright to hang out in. Or if they wished to make up a quiz or review subjects that they’re unsure of, they would have turned to their respective teacher’s classrooms. With that freedom of choice gone, students are corralled into a class they do not want to be in for a period of time that is way too long. Murmurs and whispers of how pointless homeroom is can be heard in every quad as students reluctantly trudge to their class. Since it doesn’t look like homeroom is coming to an end anytime soon, there are ways the system can improve. First off, get rid of the homeroom activities that no one likes to participate in. Second off, allow students adequate socialization by letting the period be an actual break. The suffocating environment must come to an end. If students cannot choose their class, at least let them dictate how the experience within the classroom will be. Teachers were not trained or briefed at all on the block scheduling last school year, and now Claremont High School tosses us all into the deep end yet again with another one of their asinine schedule changes.

With no student input on many of their groundbreaking and schedule-changing ideas that dictate how our day-to-day lives are for nine months, Claremont High School is left wondering yet again why their student body has little respect for them and is so apprehensive about involvement with school-related activities.