Why doesn’t our school include study hall under its list of electives. I have been given the explanation as to why home economics is not offered at West Shore and that is because it is a college prep school and home economics does not fall under the curriculum. However, study hall does not have an academic focus and seems like it could fall under any curriculum.

This year I have three electives and, if given the option, I would have definitely chosen one of them to be study hall. With two AP classes, constantly struggling in math, and crew taking up a huge portion of my free time I could definitely use the distraction-free time to refresh or finish up homework I fell asleep on.

Many teachers would argue that study hall would not be taken advantage of and no one would study but that is the option of the student really. The class should have a teacher to monitor the students activities and access to the students grades to see if they need to study in certain areas and that’s how the class could be structured.

If there is truly nothing for the student to do that day then most likely they are sleep-deprived, as are most of us and could get a good half an hour of sleep in. My point is that I believe that study hall could be very beneficial to the student body and that administration underestimates how much dedication and responsibility students have toward academics, so they are not willing to take the risk.

Loryn Schopke, sophomore