We all know about the daily 20 free minutes of phone time– I mean advisory. We’ve always had advisory, but two years ago it was monthly, last year it was twice a month, and now it’s every day. Some people hate it, some people love it. But why the sudden change? And what happens next year?
As we’re all well aware, there was a change to the start time here at Harrison, with it being pushed back a whopping 20 minutes. This was in part to better align with the schedule of the Junior School, with which we share staff such as Mr. Clark (computer science), Ms. Lusby (graphic design), Mr. Egan (band), and Mr. Hutcherson (a.k.a DJ Hutch, choir). After making this accommodation, there were 20 extra minutes in the day.
And thus, advisory was reborn and worked its way into our everyday lives. But what exactly is its purpose, other than convenience? Mr. Pollitt highlighted advisory as a place “where advisory teachers can build relationships with students” as well as a learning opportunity for our institution to navigate SchoolLinks.
It’s almost neck-and-neck with students who like advisory versus students who don’t, based on a poll conducted by The Harrison Paw Print. Our numbers show that 37.4% hate it, 47.8% like it, and 17.4% are neutral. Despite positive outlooks taking the majority, most of your peers characterized advisory as a waste of time, even if they like it.
There was an even split of students who use advisory for phone time and for Membean, with 30.4% each, and 60.9% of students supported keeping the same advisory schedule next year. A surprisingly large number of students also recorded that advisory is a nice break in the day to relax. Some students wish it to be longer (26.1%), but primarily for homework catch-up and mental rest.
There were also a lot of your peers who claimed that advisory should be longer, but they said this on the basis of needing more time for homework. While I am also among those who use this time as a study hall, it is important to note that it is not a study hall–it is also time for School links work, State mandated Social and Emotional Health work, and class or club meetings.
Although roughly 21.7% of your peers are more of a fan of the previous once-a-week schedule, Mr. Pollitt has confirmed that we will be maintaining the same everyday advisory schedule for the for-seeable future!
