Every day of the week sophomores, junior and seniors are required to be in a special PRIDE time. During this PRIDE time students take notes on PowerPoints, are graded for this study hall and every once in a while get to work on class work, the main purpose for creating PRIDE time in the first place.

During the beginning of the 2014 school year, administrators introduced the idea of PRIDE time as a way for students to get tutoring from their teachers and as a time for students to get caught up in work. During this time the IB program required juniors to attend PRIDE time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and seniors on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This year that will continue but now sophomores who haven’t even entered the IB program yet are required to be in these PRIDE times.

From 11:40 to 12:15 on Tuesdays sophomores have to attend pointless lectures about information students have heard for the past 2 years and will hear again in the future. They are told the expectations of IB students, what CAS is, what TOK is and how to get your IB Diploma. Students are not allowed to do anything like working on homework during these “informational” meetings. Attending is mandatory and students are not allowed to sign up to get tutoring from other teachers. These two rules take away the whole point of PRIDE time, getting students tutoring and working on homework. For juniors and seniors they actually have to work in class and the grades are transferred into their English grades. This just gives students another way they can be graded in school and it takes away the time they have to work on their other eight classes.

IB teachers have explained to students that being in IB, which is even more academically rigorous than Pre-AP and AP classes, should not cause them to lose any sleep. This past week I timed how much I worked on each of my classes outside of school and how much time I spent doing my out of school sport. There are 168 hours in one week. On average I sleep for 9 hours a night, so 63 hours per week. I spent 16 hours this week playing soccer. School is 6 hours long each day from 8:45 to 3:45. If you don’t get to class at exactly 8:45 and leave at exactly 3:45 you spend about 32 hours attending and going to school. This week I spent 32 hours working on homework, the same amount of time I spent at school. If you add all of this up you have 25 hours of free time per week. This is is about 3 and a half hours per day this might seem a lot but no matter what IB thinks, high schoolers aren’t perfect, we procrastinate and need to take breaks. There is no way they we can not lose sleep over IB when many students are already without other IB requirements. 

Does IB Pride Time helps you?

• Yes, I use PRIDE Time to do the things I need.
• No, I don't think the PRIDE Time helps me.

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I think a way that IB teachers could give sophomores information about the program without taking away our study hall time, even if it is once a week, would be to continue to do what they have done in past years that has worked. They have given students information at open house and when they actually have started the program in their junior year. Giving lectures on the amount of hours we need for CAS, the Extended Essays and the rigor of the classes has so far just encouraged kids to drop without even starting IB.

While some students do use PRIDE time to just play on their phones or talk with people many use it as a way to finish homework, meet with teachers and to study, to take away this time even if it’s once a week can stop students from finishing homework and passing a test because they didn’t have time to study. In junior and senior year they are in IB and the PRIDE time allows them to get help from the teachers who they have that are in the room. However, it shouldn’t be a time to have an extra class because the whole entire point of PRIDE time was to give students a study hall time not the extra pressure and workload of another class.