Pro: Liz

It’s the routine every Scituate High schooler knows best: arrive to the building, go to your locker, visit friends, head to homeroom, and listen to the daily bell song as you sit in your homeroom seat. Then, the announcements begin, and you listen to daily updates about last night’s hockey game before heading to your first class.

For some, homeroom is a time to socialize, talk among their peers about last night’s episode of American Horror Story, or let out frustrations about how late you stayed up last night finishing your history essay on a topic you still don’t understand.

Others arrive to homeroom 15 minutes early, and whip out a binder and pen to finish the algebra homework they forgot they had to do, or, take advantage of the extra few minutes of studying and burying their head in school work until the bell to go to first block.

In addition to these advantages, homeroom is the time you have to get through the traffic in the parking lot, find a parking spot somewhere (hopefully close to the cafeteria door) and rush to homeroom so you aren’t marked tardy. Overall, homeroom is a helpful buffer time in between the rush of the morning and the rush of starting your daily academic schedule.

An alternative to homeroom every morning would be just reporting to your first block class. With this method SHS would have students rushing directly from their cars, unprepared for class, and often late to first block due to parking lot traffic where cars get lined up almost to 3A waiting to arrive and drop off kids at the school doors, or one of those bad mornings we all know so well.

Homeroom is important to students and adults in the building.  “I use it as a time to organize myself and unwind from the stress of rushing to get ready every morning. It’s just a way to relax and make sure I have everything ready for all my classes,” said senior Leah Donnelly. “I also love Mr. Sylvester. He always tells us stories about his grandkids,” Donnelly said. The environment of homeroom allows us to connect with a teacher you might not have otherwise encountered or bonded with over the course of four years.

“Homeroom as a stand-alone idea would stand to provide a stable relationship with an adult maintained over time, whether or not they have interacted in academic life,” said assistant principal Mr. Duffey agreeing with Donnelly.

Whether you use homeroom to socialize study, unwind, or rush into school, homeroom is a time that must be kept in our school day. Taking it away would be detrimental to class time and the day as a whole.

Con: Caroline

“Homerooms have faded from most high schools but are still popular in many junior high schools,” according to the United Federation of Teachers. Is that what Scituate High School resembles? A middle school like Gates Intermediate so many of us were so happy to finally escape? In an institution that prides itself on preparing its student body for the future, it seems to more closely represent a place that we called home in the past.

The exact purpose of homeroom varies depending on whom you ask. Some say it gives students a time to file into school, others to give students a few minutes to finish up homework in the morning, and others say it exists to give a chance to make announcements for the day ahead. Sophomore Sara Moskowitz said, “get there at seven if you need to. I do nothing in homeroom, there’s no point to it.”

The largest problem with homeroom is the tardiness and the resulting detentions that students face. When students are “late” for homeroom they are marked tardy to school, despite the fact that they are there in time for their first academic class. If tardy for homeroom five times a term, students receive detentions. These are punishments for students not missing their actual academic classes, but for missing a few minutes of a holding cell before true learning commences for the day.

Teachers unintentionally help play into this idea of unjustified punishments. Because marking students present is up to the discretion of the teacher, the lack of uniform policy from homeroom to homeroom has upset many students. Different teachers mark students tardy for coming in at different times. Some students who come in the second after the 7:18 bell rings will be marked tardy, but not some other students who come in before homeroom ends all because of the teacher deciding when tardiness is determined.

For students, its easier to justify receiving a detention for being late to their first class, but not so easy to justify receiving one for simply missing homeroom. It’s necessary to teach kids how to be on time, but that would more effectively be taught by eliminating homeroom and basing it off if they missed part of the necessary and academic day. Senior Melissa Gentile said, “I understand the idea of wanting to teach students how to be on time, but it should be used more as a grace period to gather yourself, not stress about getting to on time to just sit there for 20 minutes.”

One important example to consider is that, during midterms, we have no homeroom. We go straight to our first class and attendance is taken there, along with morning announcements.. It takes all of a few minutes and then the day continues on. With a system like that in place, everyone hears the announcements, there is no questioning if you are technically on time or not, and students can understand why it is important to get to school on time. If they are late, they miss actual academic learning.

The concept of  having a homeroom has been around for decades. It is a traditional idea that may have worked well in the past, but is no longer relevant and beneficial to the school day. In a school that is continually progressing in its organization, it’s time to make another change and abolish the homeroom system.