Give 9th and 10th Graders the Freedom to Survive

Photo from Bonnie C. 10th grade

By: Bonnie C.

In AISG, the 11th and 12th graders get free block, unlike the 9th and 10th graders. Many of the 9th and 10th graders have been complaining about how unfair it is, including myself. I personally think free blocks have a lot of merits on all high schoolers’ life. 

Since the 9th and 10th graders don’t have any free blocks other than 40-minute-long academic assistance once a week, there have been many difficulties for them. “I end up sleeping late finishing my work, which has impacted my ability to learn as I am not fully awake yet,” 10th grader Jamie C. said. 

Why can’t we use the time after school? Most high schoolers are even more packed after school with After School Activities (ASAs) like Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) sports and performing arts, Model Unites Nations (MUN), student clubs, etc. I am a part of APAC Orchestra and MUN, which makes me stay after school every day and go home late. This not only happens to me, but for most of the students. The worst thing that happens is when we, students, have to travel as a part of those teams; things get really tough and harder to keep up with schoolwork. 

The athletes face a bigger struggle, since they have more trips for tournaments and races that happen very frequently. “Because I do APAC Swimming, I arrive home late every day, which takes away a lot of time, on weekends as well,” 10th grader Suri H. said.  

It is our responsibility as students to manage our time wisely, but the amount of time to work on academics and the amount of time we need to spend in school is unbalanced. The consecutive assessments including formatives and summative exacerbate the situation even more. 11th and 12th graders getting free block because they do the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) unlike the lower classmen is unfair. The Middle-Year Program (MYP) is also loaded with a lot of work and stressful enough for the lower classmen. “The constant assignments and assessments we get, even if we’re not in IBDP yet, make it tough for us to get them done on time,” 10th grader Qinglin Y. said. 

We don’t join these APAC or MUN activities just for fun. We join these teams and show commitment easily for our future institution applications or careers. “I didn’t necessarily join varsity sports because I do them for fun. Those are mostly for my school resumé to show universities that I’ve done variety of activities during my high-school years,” 10th grader Ikki F. said. 

So, what do the 9th and 10th graders do instead of having free blocks? They have design classes of their choice. However, even the opportunity to choose only applies to the 10th graders.  

Though students don’t get a choice to choose whether to take MYP classes or not, it isn’t the school’s choice either to make students take those classes. As AISG transitioned into an MYP school and adopted the curriculum, the school had no choice but to incorporate design classes for the lower classmen of high school. “We made this decision because transitioning to MYP, we need to adhere to the 8 subjects that the MYP dictates. The fact that we do have 8 subjects means that we don’t have free blocks,” Mr. Ralph Emmerink, the MYP coordinator of AISG said. 

Most students have once said that they would have free blocks over design classes since they don’t find them helpful, and we don’t even need to take them in 11th and 12th grade anyways. As a music student, not art, I don’t find this class interesting for my own interest. Additionally, the fact that there is an extra class to receive a grade from makes it more difficult to manage my own self-study time. Many other music students share the same opinion. “As a music student, I hardly found design classes important when I had them. It also gave me unnecessary stress because I’m not even going to need them later,” 11th grader Chloe C. said.  

Just how its mentioned above, design classes aren’t very helpful. On the other hand, some art students do find them necessary. “These classes focus on a lot of arts, which I think is tolerable as these help students to explore design careers,” 10th grade art student Kyle C. said. 

Do other students, including the art students, find design classes helpful? 5 out of 6 students that I interviewed said that 2-3 classes a week are too much and unnecessary. A better solution would be to have design classes and free blocks to alternate every other day. “I don’t need to learn how to make birdhouses or to code so many times a week. I would rather have free blocks,” 11th grader Owen L. said. 

Another IB school that also has the MYP in China called the International School of Beijing (ISB) is a bit different from AISG. “All high schoolers have a free block every other day, but they could choose to do some other kind of activities instead,” 12th grade Angela from ISB said. This is a great system for both the school and the students, since the school is giving the students a choice to choose rather than making it mandatory. 

It is not just ISB. Other schools in China or near China including Concordia International School of Shanghai (CISS) and Hong kong International School (HKIS) also have free blocks for all high schoolers.  

However, even if our school wasn’t MYP, administrators and the coordinators might not give all high schoolers the free block without consideration. “I think we are looking potentially of removing the free blocks from everyone. “There are more behavior instances like not being on task,” Ms. Ruth Herrin, an assistant principal of AISG said.  

Not all teachers think free blocks are being misused though. Some teachers have mixed feelings about students having free blocks too. “Students use free blocks to work on not only assignments they have but also to make up for assessments that they may have been absent for or meet teachers that they might not have been able to meet during academic assistance. While I do think free blocks could be beneficial, students have to prepare for them properly. Without a clear plan, free blocks are very easy to pass by without them realizing its over; that happens to teachers as well during their planning periods.” Ms. Darcie Flansburg, English A Language and Literature teacher said.  

Even though there are instances of behavior (like misusing the free blocks instead of using them to study) from several students every year, the advantages of having a free block outweigh those consequences. It’s too early to determine if all students misuse free blocks without giving them a chance. Not everyone is wishing for a free block to take a rest; many are desperately wishing one for academic advantages including meeting with teachers or working on group projects. 

How could anyone know how helpful a free block is better than the experienced ones? “As a junior, free blocks help me a lot when I must study for a big test that I couldn’t fully prepare for at home. I currently also use this time to reach out to my teachers and ask for help and advice,” 11th grader Rachel O. said.  

Whether the school needs to follow the expectations of the MYP curriculum or not, many students with no free blocks are struggling. Considering the aforementioned points, the school should think of an effective solution to give us more self-study time.