Opinion: No Two Homerooms Are Alike

BY: ETHAN SUTTON

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Homeroom is a mainstay in schools across the county, and yet homeroom at Boonville high school is very much flawed. Things like ZAP and the different “parts” are some things that BHS does differently compared to other schools, however in the case of BHS, different is not good. 

No one homeroom is exactly alike, and the differences aren’t minute nor insignificant. Some teachers require passes while others are nonchalant about it. This discrepancy can create confusion on the students end and makes going to see a teacher harder than it needs to be. 

Another obstacle that need not exist is whether or not the teacher will be in their room. Some don’t have a homeroom at all so it is a roll of the dice on whether they will be available to talk. 

Another instance of inconsistency lies in the homeroom teachers phone policy. Some require you to put your phones up for half the class while others, not at all. Having been in three different homerooms myself, I can attest that not one of them had the exact same policy regarding phones as the others. If rules were set in place to make all of these things streamlined and exactly the same none of these issues would surface, or occur at all. 

Another issue is ZAP. Kids are able to push off their work until they get a three on the ZAP report, at which point they rush to get it done so they don’t have lunch detention. Junior Aiden Burdette said “I don’t do any of my homework until I get a three on the ZAP report, there is almost no reason to.” Why would a school encourage students to not do their work, which is exactly what they are doing with ZAP? 

Why is homeroom second period, when first period would make so much more sense. They are always emphasizing attendance in the announcements. Moving homeroom to first period would mean anyone who is a little late getting to school won’t miss a class that is actually valuable, therefore making the impact of being late a lot less intense.

The issues that homeroom faces are unique and easily avoidable. Things like the inconsistency of homeroom can easily be solved with a few rule changes. There are ways to solve homeroom’s issues.