Where is study hall?

By Brittany Miller

Sixteen year old Alexandria Rodgers walked into her first hour study hall at school. She expected it to be quiet and a good place for her to finally be able to finish her eighth hour’s homework. However, when she opened the door she saw something completely different.

“Study hall was a class that basically was gossip hour or a way to catch up on last night’s party that you might have missed. I was shocked when I walked into the door of study hall for the first time because I could not find anyone studying,” Rodgers, a sophomore at Pulaski High School, claims.

Study halls have been canceled out of many schools due to the fact that nobody ever studies in them. Instead, people talked the whole hour, never did any work, and many altercations came from this so called “gossip hour”.

“I hate looking down at my schedule every semester to see the words ‘study hall’ on it because what those words are really saying to me is, ‘Josh, get ready to get into a whirl of trouble and fail all your classes’. I try to get it switched immediately because I know I am not going to do any work, which will bring my grades down.” These are the words of Joshua Camry, a junior at Pulaski High School.

Many schools like Pulaski High School and Messmer have canceled study hall as a class since many students abuse the privilege. This is good for students like Camry but bad for the ones who desperately need a study hour and would use it appropriately.

“When I first came to Messmer I prayed that I had a study hall on my schedule. When I did not I went to my guidance counselor and told her that I desperately needed it and that is when I found out that there was not a study hall at Messmer. This effected me badly because I was so used to having it at my previous school to catch up on missing assignments or do a classes homework before it is time to go to that class.” Junior Charles Sutton is one of those who would have used it wisely. Unfortunately, Many students just like Sutton have suffered from their not being a study hall at schools. Although this is true, not all high schools’ study halls are this bad. “I go to Milwaukee Lutheran High and there when it says study hall that is all that is being done, studying. There is no talking, no eating or sleeping. Only work is able to be done in that class,” states fifteen year old freshman Stephanie Moore.

A study hall is what you as a student makes of it. It is up to the student’s behavior and increase or decrease in grades whether or not it stays around. At the end of the day a study hall, believe it or not, can make or break students’ grades if not taken seriously. Therefore, if you have a study hall as a class, please do not mess up the privilege for underclassmen, do your work!