After 10 frustrating weeks of the new high school schedule, a survey came out asking for our opinions. Finally. Students have been complaining about the logistics and challenges that the schedule has brought for weeks and truthfully, the complaints have been warranted.

A significant change to the high school schedule is that, unlike in previous years, some classes meet every day at the same time. As a result, students have to prepare homework for the same class almost every night. In my case, these three classes happen to have the heaviest workload.

According to High School Principal and Associate Head of School Marc Lindner, a goal of classes meeting every day at the same time was to provide consistency for the students. While I am able to memorize class times better this year in comparison to other years, this consistency is possible without inserting the same classes into the schedule.

Not everyone is at their best first thing in the morning. The old schedule was accommodating because a class would only be first every three days, and students who weren’t as ready to function in the morning didn’t have to worry about not performing their best in the same class every day.

Having the same class at the same time also means periodically compromising time in one class. Lindner says the schedule accommodates students on sports teams and ensures that they don’t miss the same class at the end of the day for each game. Sporting events like cross country meets, however, occur each Wednesday, meaning students on the track team miss period nine weekly. While Lindner says this is currently being addressed, it is evidence of improper planning.

Doctor’s appointments occur in the morning before school, or during first period for the convenience of a parent who still has to get to work. This means that students who frequently have to visit a doctor regularly miss the same class. Moreover, students who unintentionally become victims of traffic receive multiple tardies from the same class, which is not always in their control and can lead to their grade being penalized.

With last year’s schedule, every class was about an hour, regardless of what subject was being taught. For someone who struggles with focusing on a lecture or a given assignment for a long period of time, an hour was an appropriate amount of time for a teacher to give an entire lesson without me having to leave the class in the middle to regain my focus.

I know that my peers face similar problems because according to The National Resources on ADHD in 2013, 9.5 percent of youth ages four to 17 were diagnosed with ADHD between 2011 and 2013. With the new schedule, 68-minute classes are truly an everyday battle. It’s hard enough that the classes I do not have every day happen to mostly be lecture-style classes, but having two 68-minute lectures in a row every day is the hardest way for me to learn.

I suggest that the school return to the ABC rotating block schedule from previous years. To provide the same consistency, start and end times of classes should be uniform throughout the week. We’ve had 10 weeks to give the new schedule a try, but now it’s time to go back and make modifications to the ABC block schedule that are less drastic and have beneficial impacts on our days and experiences at school.