George School has implemented a new term schedule for the 2022-2023 school year. For those of us who attended GS last year, this schedule is vastly different from the old one. It introduced a great opportunity for students who want to expand their course load. Though, with a new 7-term format, there are plenty of questions and concerns that arise. To clarify the 7-term schedule and hear some of the views about the schedule on campus, I interviewed some teachers and students. 

First, to hear from the faculty’s outlook on the schedule,I interviewed Eric Wolarsky, a student dean, and Brendan Mahon, a teacher in the history department. 

Eric supported the claim that students will have a lot more flexibility and individuality in their schedule. “Every student will have taken a really individualized course of study that they wanted for themselves. It helps you customize your schedule a lot. And it helps students pursue their passion which makes them more engaged in school.” 

Eric also explained that not only students are offered more flexibility and options, “it would also be a really distinctive, unusual, academic program that would unleash a lot of creativity from our faculty in the terms of the classes that they could offer.” 

When asked about the potential drawbacks, Eric said that he thinks “there are certainly classes where meeting 3 terms out of 7 terms will affect people. Though there is research that suggests that it doesn’t, which is one of the reasons why we used Independent School Management, the consultancy that George School worked with, because they are really research based.” 

Brendan Mahon also explained his opinion on the schedule. He appreciates the frequency of class meets offered by the new schedule. He said “I am really enjoying seeing my students every day. I think it has made my classes come together very quickly and be more cohesive. After only a couple weeks, I knew my students pretty well already, certainly more than I would have in previous years.”

When asked about some challenges, Brendan explained that his main challenge was less time to allowed homework out of class.“I don’t want to say that it’s a negative aspect… but the definite challenge for me as a teacher, which I knew going into it… was there is not as much time to assign work outside of class. Because we are only meeting for 15 weeks as opposed to seeing students over twenty-eight weeks, there is simply not as much time.’

Next, I wanted to get the pulse from students on their opinions of this drastic change in schedule. Students, like always, have mixed opinions about the new format.

One 9th grader that I spoke to expressed her mixed feelings on the schedule.

She said that “It is a lot of information in a short period of time.” She explained how different this schedule was from her middle school schedule and what concerns and pleases her: “It’s just a lot of fun to me. It’s just a new experience, and I really enjoy class time. And I think the long class time is necessary to be able to cover what we need to cover in 5 weeks.”

Lastly, I interviewed Hollyn, a 10th grader who did not fully overload her schedule.

She stated her appreciation for the new schedule, and how the differences from the schedule are beneficial to her: “I really like the new schedule… because it is so much more broken up. I only have three or four classes that I can focus on solely at a time. And last year, having different classes every other day was just a lot of a workload. But having five week periods solely to focus on those classes, I can do better if I have those four to focus on.”

Maia, a 12th-grade IB student, thinks that this schedule isn’t as beneficial as she would’ve hoped. “I’m taking my classes, which are work heavy, a lot of effort, a lot of energy, a lot of brain power but then I also have to deal with going to college and being a prefect and doing all of these things that I have to work up towards that are more essential to my future than the present moment. We’re all being thrown into a lot, immediately. I had to drop cheer because I couldn’t do all my work after school.” Students with PEs in the morning don’t deal with this problem as much, as they have the time that should be dedicated to sports, free to relax and begin work if deemed necessary. Especially in more work-heavy terms, students sometimes have to drop clubs, and freshmen don’t have the luxury to drop sports completely or just manage for a team.  

Contrary, some students believe that this new schedule helps with engagement and focus, especially in the different art classes and electives. “It’s good if you’re in a class that you really enjoy, you can really focus on it and engage with the content and the teacher, it’s bad if you don’t like the class, but when you do, it’s more interesting.” When focusing on seven or eight different classes at a time, it can be extremely difficult to pay that extra attention to your favorite class or that one essay/projection that’s 30% of your grade. With four classes, you can put all the work you want into those classes and truly care about the classes you love so much. 

There’s advice about how to manage this new 7 term schedule, prioritizing yourself being the most heard of. Making sure that the classes you elected to take are classes that won’t burn you out from work. Talk with your teachers, ask for help, schedule those consultations for more understanding, ask for accommodations that you need. Make sure that every class you attend, you’re working your hardest and benefiting the most.

It seems like there are a bunch of different opinions on campus of the new 7-term schedule. Whether people like it or not, they agree that this certainly gives GS a new academic look it did not have before.