Despite grappling with sicknesses, persevering through bitter weather and balancing strenuous workloads, students and faculty have seen an increase in the length of this normally arduous term. Nine days of classes were added to this year’s calendar, the result of Head of School Barbara Chase’s executive decision to lengthen the school year. Last week’s AdCom Minutes in the Andover Gazette highlighted the concern that more material may have been added to this term’s course load. Due to the highly structured syllabi of most classes, this has not been an issue. The Minutes also raised a point on a discrepancy with teaching versus program days. Currently, Assessment Days, Non Sibi Day and Reading Days are not considered teaching days and are therefore not counted in the total number of class days in the year. While these particular days do not have structured class time, students and faculty still have required obligations that are equally as time-consuming, if not more so, than a normal class day. When compared to other boarding schools, time spent in classes is reasonably low at Andover. However, it is currently unfeasible to increase daily class time without causing major disruptions to our schedule. Therefore, this statistical lack of student-teacher contact has drawn considerable concern within the community. When the drafting for this year’s academic calendar began, increasing the number of days spent in classes seemed like a logical decision to this quandary. Distributed evenly among the three terms, these extra days were added to the end of each trimester. To my knowledge, this extension was initially promoted as a way of alleviating stress for students, with the hope that a few extra days of classes each term would allow for a slightly more relaxed schedule. While in theory more days of classes seems like a good idea, at the end of our grueling terms, one has to wonder, are they really making a difference? From my personal experience, many students are already mentally “checked-out” by the time final assessments roll around and the effectiveness of these extra classes is questionable. Whether it was our pace of life, the prediction of a shorter academic year due to an anomalous calendar or a combination of both that influenced the drafting of this year’s calendar, one thing is for certain: Andover’s number of class days should not be compared to those of other schools. With an unparalleled academic program and a particular emphasis on out of class work, the minimal nine hours of time students must dedicate to a course each week is not relative to that of other schools. As a result of a shorter winter vacation, members of the community returned less rested than in previous years. This reduction immediately impacted those who had to travel long distances over the break. Kie Watanabe ’08, an international student from Japan, said, “It takes most international students two days to travel and a week to get over jet lag. This break felt even shorter and I had college applications to finish. By the end of break you want to feel like you want to come back and [this year,] I didn’t.” Furthermore, as a result of the calendar year athletics were moved back a week. In what Michael Kuta, Athletic Director, called a “perfect storm,” this term’s penultimate week and spring tryouts coincided on the same week. Kaitlin Fanikos ’11, who had to juggle crew tryouts, academic work and Dance Open rehearsals said, “It was tough week for me because [all these activities] were so important to me and they were all smashed into one week.” With sports pushed back a week, there will be five days at the end of spring term without athletics. At a time of the year that sees a number of tough disciplinary decisions, this vast amount of free time should not be overlooked. Specifically, this matter will pose challenges for the senior class, already on Senior Spring Term probation, where the extra time may not necessarily be used in favorable circumstances. If there is an abnormal number of DC’s within the last few weeks of Spring Term, I would not be surprised. Our community is held to a rigid schedule that often yields varying degrees of stress. Three extra days of our particularly intense regime per term added together for a total of nine extra days is simply not necessary. As an independent institution that prides itself on its academics, it is imperative that we define ourselves by the quality of our education and not by the number of days we are in a classroom.
