MS students need a study hall like HS students  

Joeke

Many students debate about whether or not it's fair that highschoolers get a free study block while MS students only have tutorials. While tutorials is a time to catch up on work and reassess assessments, for some, it isn't enough time to finish all their homework so instead, they take time out of their social life to finish studying or do homework at home. A study hall should be provided for middle school students for several reasons. 

One of the reasons MS students should get a study hall block, is to help students catch up on work. If a student misses a day, they are required to catch up to the rest of their class and have to talk or email their teachers to do so. With five classes a day, you would have to catch up to around 7 hours of class and 30 minutes at the end of the day is not enough time. With study hall, teachers can spend quality time with their students and carefully go through what they have missed. If a reassessment is required without a study hall, they only have tutorials (30 minutes) to finish a whole test. If study hall is provided, students will have a proper amount of time to finish their tests and catch up on work. 

Another reason MS students  should get a study hall is that middle schoolers should have enough time to finish homework. Usually students spend around 1-2 hours everyday after school working on homework. In addition to after school activities, students have less time to socialize with their friends, which is required for a healthy and balanced lifestyle. If a study hall is provided, students have time to work on their homework during school hours, and won't have to take time away from the other aspects of their lives. 

The final reason MS students should have a study hall is that it provides a good time for students to ask their peers for help. This develops deeper learning of the concept as it provides another point of view. Students sometimes feel intimidated by their teachers and want to talk to someone their age who understands it better than they do to gain insight. 

In conclusion, study hall would benefit all middle school students for multiple reasons and will help them in the long term.

Zoe

When students move into middle school, all of their homework, tests, assignments, and projects start to pile up. Students often end up falling behind the class because they don’t have the time to do their work at home because of all of the things going on in their lives. So, study hall, an extra block for students to study and finish homework can be a solution to this problem, right? I don’t think so. Middle school students should not have a study hall.

Middle schoolers won’t be focused and will be off-task. Students in middle school often prioritize socializing and having fun over working hard and finishing their homework. In 2017, eighth graders were allowed to use the library as a workplace during tutorials. Unfortunately, they played around with their friends, didn’t get any work done and distracted other students who were trying to study. This is the reason why middle school students aren’t allowed to go there during tutorials now. Time in the school day that could have been spent learning was wasted.

A solution to the problem of students being unproductive during study hall would be to have a supervisor. But, it is a waste of money to pay the supervisor to do nothing but watch the students, when they could easily go to the library after school and do their homework there, under the supervision of the librarians. 

Another reason why middle schoolers shouldn’t be given a study hall is we already have tutorials. Half an hour of our day that gives us the time to productively finish tasks and assignments that we need to catch up on. Tutorials are meant to help us, and we should be thankful that we have this extra time to catch up on work.

Study Hall is what every middle schooler wants, but not needs. Students forget all of the downsides that come with giving them study hall. Instead of asking for it, we should use tutorials to our advantage, by changing our priorities and improving our time management. Because of all the downsides, middle school students shouldn’t have study hall like high school students.