Calamity Day Consequences

With the recent legislation that was passed, schools are now requiring their students to come to school for a certain number of hours: 1,001. Students are missing more school than ever, and are facing repercussions. As a student in Ohio, I know that it is dangerous to get behind in school work with all of the snow days that we have had. Still, that is nearly impossible because teachers give students a constant stream of homework. This begs the question: what is the benefit of switching from days to hours?

Switching from days to hours may seem like a plague but it is actually a seemingly well thought out plan. By having a maximum amount of snow days, schools are forced to make up days at the end of the school year. But when schools have a minimum number of hours, you actually have more time off then you would before. It can also increase the amount of two-hour delays that a school has, making the driving environment safer for those who drive to school each day. But you can only have these benefits if your school requires you to come for a sizable amount of hours. Schools that plan their schedule to have school well above the minimum can have a larger amount of snow days and two-hour delays than schools who only require students to come for the minimum of 1,001 hours.

In high school, the “stream” of homework progresses from a light trickle to a rushing waterfall. Anyone who's ever been to high school knows this to be true. But with the recent snow days from the unpredictable weather in Ohio, it is hard to base a teaching schedule that is flexible, which leads to excess work to do on your snow days. This can be hard on students that are behind or suffer from an extreme case of senioritis. Senioritis is like arthritis for seniors in high school. Instead of your joints being unable to work, you become unable to work. It is highly contagious and claims many victims over the course of just a few months.

All around the globe, many students suffer from senioritis. Students that have fallen victim to this treacherous plague can fall under the sword of this new legislature. Having no maximum amount of snow days causes students to get behind in their work. Students already behind have almost no hope of regaining their footing and being caught up to the present. In addition to being behind, the wonderful world of the internet has given us the ability to work on school work at home. Those of us looking forward to a snow day at home in pajamas have a rude awakening when we get an email from nine teachers, giving us our assignments for the day.

So is this a blessing or a curse? It depends on how prepared each school is to deal with the typical Ohio weather. For all the decisions that the Ohio Department of Education has made, this is finally one step in the right direction.