Head to Head: Staffers debate whether 7-period days or block days are superior

8 p.m. on a Sunday and I’m excited. Tomorrow is Monday — my favorite school day of the week.

Mondays are usually dreaded and despised, but not for me. Mondays are seven-period days — the only day during the week where we get to attend all seven of our classes. The day breezes by with classes that are only 50 minutes long. I’m constantly moving and transitioning to a new class as opposed to being trapped in my chair taking notes for 90 minutes on odd/even days. 

Having a seven-period day in the school week helps me prepare for the dreaded block days ahead. Traveling to each of my classes on Mondays helps me understand the expectations the week holds and allows me to prioritize. On odd block days where I don’t have Algebra 2, I’m not able to ask my teacher questions about the homework due the next day. But with having questions on Sunday nights, a seven-period day on Monday is the solution to all my problems. 

Although I do love late start, the seminar adds to the times where I wish I could be in class learning more content, instead of wasting my day away when I have no homework to catch up on in seminar. 

As 7-period day classes are shorter, I feel more motivated to complete my work in class compared to block days. I feel that teachers don’t have as much work planned due to the period already being shortened. As opposed to block period days when teachers tend to cram loads of work, notes or quizzes in those 90-minute periods, making sure we get the most out of the hour, as they only see us up to three times a week. Having a 50 minute period makes me feel like I can get my work done and not spend the whole period scrolling through my Instagram feed waiting for the period to end.

But as the bell rings at 2:40 p.m. on Friday I am grateful I made it through the 4 days of draining block periods and excited for my weekend — along with the Monday 7-period following right after it. 

Picture this: you have a test in your first hour, a presentation in your second hour, a Socratic Seminar in your fourth hour, a lab in your sixth hour and an essay due in your seventh hour. Sounds stressful right? Now imagine doing those all in one day with 50 minutes to do each. That’s what a seven period day is like — cramming all your notes and information in less than an hour just to go to six more classes that day and do the same exact thing six times over. 

Now picture this: You have all of the same exact school work but it’s on a block day. Not only do you only have four classes that day but they are an hour and a half instead. This is why block days are better. You have more time to do classwork, get homework done, ask teachers for help and spend more time taking a test.

Another great part about block days is seminar. A full hour and half of working on what you need to get done. Behind on class work? Seminar. Need to talk to a teacher? Seminar. Need a break from school for a second? Seminar. A perfect opportunity to do what you need to during school instead of after or before school when you have extracurriculars or events. 

With seven period days everything feels rushed knowing you only have 50 minutes to get everything done which can result in mistakes or misunderstandings of the lesson but oh wait! You can’t ask your teacher for help because what’s that? The bell. Class is over. But don’t worry because you have seminar the next day on your beloved block day. 

You know what also is on block days? Late start. Remember when I said seminar is a great time to take a quick cool down from school and hop right back into it? Late start mornings give you over an hour of extra sleep, working out, eating breakfast with friends or whatever you want to do with your freedom. 

Although there are many more positives of block days than there are of seven period days, they both are very essential. Without the seven period days students wouldn’t be able to truly cherish and be thankful for block days and how useful they are. Whenever you have the random thought of whether block or seven period days are better, just remember how peaceful and easy-paced block days are.