The pandemic brought change to so many aspects of our lives. Schedules were heavily impacted, whether you were a student during E-learning, or a parent trying to work from home for the first time. Even if you don’t fit into these categories, it’s highly likely that your schedule was impacted by the pandemic, whether negatively or positively. Students and teachers at Evanston Township High School are still managing this change. Since returning to school after E-learning. ETHS has adopted block scheduling. Students have eight classes in total but only attend four a day. The days are split into orange and blue days. On orange days students have blocks 1,3,5, and 7, four classes for 85 minutes each. On blue days students have blocks 2,4,6, and 8 for the same amount of time. This is such a drastic change from the schedule that ETHS held prior to the pandemic. Students had all eight classes a day for 5 minutes each. There are mixed reviews on the effectiveness of the scheduling. I conducted a number of interviews with junior students in order to investigate their views on block scheduling and if they felt it in any way affected their mental health. 

A majority of students that I interviewed felt like block scheduling was ok. They didn’t love it but felt that it was a better option than 45-minute periods. They generally felt like the schedule grew on them. Students made more modifications to the scheduling but in general, they agreed that they would choose to keep this schedule. When asked about mental health this group was in consensus that it didn’t affect their mental health in any way. One student even mentioned how it decreased stress because passing periods were longer and they didn’t feel like they had to rush. Since students alternate class days, they said the extra day to complete homework was useful and helped them keep track of their work and decreased stress. Students admitted that while they are accustomed to this schedule, they are unable to focus throughout the duration of the 85-minute blocks. When asked about modifications to make the schedule more effective, most students asked for more breaks in between classes so that they weren't constantly overloaded with information and had time to process as well as a cool down. This batch believed that breaks during class would make the schedule more effective in the information retention aspect and they would be able to focus more on the given tasks. Overall block scheduling for this batch of juniors didn’t induce any serious stress or impact their mental health, but they would advocate for breaks during class to increase effectiveness. 

It was surprising to hear that the majority of students liked block scheduling because I had heard so many negative comments about it. I actually had trouble finding students who had negative opinions about block scheduling that were beyond minor complaints. My last interviews were with students who had negative experiences with block scheduling. The students clearly stated that they did not like block scheduling. Some reasons were that the classes were way too long to be effective and they become overwhelming, more work than usual is assigned and it is usually busy work to fill time, and the homework is lengthier because teachers correlate the break in between classes as an opportunity to do work so the workload quickly piles up, and their ability to focus is greatly hindered. The students vocalized how the scheduling makes their workload almost unmanageable because they don’t have enough time to get everything done. When asked if the scheduling negatively impacted their mental health they said yes. One student mentioned that their ADHD made it increasingly difficult to adhere to block scheduling. Another student mentioned not getting enough sleep because it was hard to balance school with other responsibilities. They were in agreement that reverting back to the 45-minute classes would enhance their mental health by allowing them to move around more in school, retain more information and stay focused, and have a good balance between life and school. When asked how they would modify block scheduling if they couldn’t get rid of it, they said implementing breaks during class would make it more bearable and beneficial. 

Another factor that could affect students' mental health is how a block schedule could impact the number of social interactions one can have. When interviewing students about this aspect they had mixed reviews. A student said that it was now more than ever that she was able to have more social interactions though she states that coming from E-learning to in-person learning definitely makes her more appreciative of any interaction she has. She said the block schedule allowed her to have more social interactions because there was more time in classes to forge connections and there were opportunities to bond over classwork and homework. On the flip side, another student commented that she didn’t form many connections with her classmates and it attributed it to block scheduling. She said the high workload that block scheduling induced made it difficult to connect with other students because everyone was more focused on the work that they had to do. The idea of implementing breaks was also mentioned by both students as a way to facilitate social interactions. When one of the students interviewed was asked about which class she formed the most social interactions in and why she said it was her chemistry class because the teacher had activities that helped the class get to know each other better. Another representation of why breaks are so important. Both students acknowledged that limiting social interaction could indeed negatively affect students' mental health but admitted that personally they were just minorly affected. 

The purpose of my interviews was just to see how the general student body felt about block scheduling and if they felt it affected them in any way, positively or negatively.  I simply wanted to hear multiple perspectives on the subject so I could understand how students feel about the scheduling. Though my interviewing process wasn’t comprehensive, I feel like I have a good general idea of where block scheduling stands with students at ETHS based on the majority of opinions. Most people agree that block scheduling doesn’t affect their mental health and if it does, it is minor. I wanted to be able to make a scheduling suggestion that would be beneficial for all students. If ETHS is to keep block scheduling, then breaks need to be implemented during class times and the amount of work that teachers can assign should be regulated. It’s important for ETHS’s schedule to be beneficial for students' general well-being and for students to reflect the knowledge that is required of them.