The First Day Back

So today was the first day back to school for the students. It was pretty good. The school in which I work is on a 4 X 4 block schedule. This means that the students go to 4 90 minute class each semester and then change classes at the semester break and have totally different ones for that semester. No problem right? Well this causes some problems in the band world. In the Fall, I teach colorguard class, marching percussion class, and marching winds class. I do this to allow us to be competitive in the marching band season in the fall. It obviously worked. In the spring, I teach music theory (small class only 4 students right now), Concert Band, and Symphonic Band. The problem is that some students have trouble being able to schedule 2 band classes to allow them to have band continuously throughout the school year. This is a band thing. But most of the students are able to schedule band for both semesters and this is good. With 90 minutes of class we are able to get a lot of thing accomplished that would be otherwise impossible had we only met for 45 minutes.

Why did school have to change to a different schedule? When I was in high school you just went to 6 different class for one hour each. It seemed to work well. The reason is that graduation requirements changes. The state legislature added 4 more required credits to be granted a high school diploma to require a total of 24 units to receive a diploma. That meant that the high school had to add more opportunities to gain credits. You do the math. 4 classes times 2 semesters times 4 years of high school equals 32 opportunities to receive 24 credits. This creates yet another problem.

Juniors and Seniors often have reached most of their required credits by the second semester of their third year of high school. Now what do they do? Well some schools let them go home early! I know a students that actually is released from school (legally!) at 11:30 a.m.! How is that for training them to go forth in the real world? It is call early dismissal or work release (sounds like prison to me!) but it is all the same. One time I filled out all the paper work for early release and turned in like I was a student. I almost made it too until they figured out who I was.

What is the point to all this?...Things ain't what they use to be! Educators today face new problems with every turn of events. Something must be done to make our profession a not only desirable venture but also an honorable one.

P.S. To any of the students reading this, congratulations on a great first day back. It was nice to see you all again. Believe it or not...I missed you!