Advisory Woes
By Nathalie Sandoval-Franco
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Picture this: It’s a lovely Monday afternoon, and you are ready to take a little midday break after two mentally draining classes. The room is cold and everyone else is talking with their friends, then the bell rings, and your advisor announces that we need to put away our homework and to pay attention to the new lesson. Everyone burst into complaints and groans of frustration. Panic sets in - you needed to do homework for two of your AP classes that you didn’t have a chance to do over the weekend and your friends had to finish their projects. Some students across the room grumble as they put away the art project they were looking forward to making progress on in a relaxed environment with the necessary materials. This is the average experience of the Neuwirth scholar in advisory, a class that is meant to support scholars, but in actuality, takes away extra time to finish assignments and experience success in a demanding school.
The vision of advisory according to the Neuwirth handbook is to support scholars through, “personal and academic success.” However, scholars are not given time to complete homework and school assignments, making it difficult to achieve this balance between keeping up with class and their own personal lives.
For example, Neuwirth recently assigned core value posters and Hispanic Heritage Month door decorating for each advisory class. The core values are important to scholars for their individual growth as a human being, and learning about our cultures is also important, but are these assignments really important to the success of a Neuwirth scholar? The advisory lessons often encourage class discussions and assignments that take away from time that could be used to spend on studying with other students and completing assignments.
Hispanic Heritage and the core values are beneficial to students, but often, the advisory experience feels like students and teachers are assigned things to do just to fill time, similarly to how a show you like uses filler episodes because they’ve run out of material. Advisory assignments are often unnecessary, much like these filler episodes, to the average Neuwirth student. If advisory is meant to prepare students for the transition from school to life and careers, is making posters and decorating doors a wise use of our time?
According to the school website, Neuwirth aims to mold, “hardworking, thoughtful, and productive leaders.” How are scholars able to fit into this when learning is done differently in every scholar? Some require more time because they have none at home, or others can complete their homework but need time to rest. Advisory should be a class that suits the needs of every individual scholar. With that in mind, check-ins and additional time to complete assignments should be provided. Not every student follows the same path to get to the same goal as another student, and advisory could be a tool to help push scholars in the ways they need.
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