Tell me why I still don’t have a D-block four weeks later

Every year it seems like scheduling issues keep getting worse.

According to guidance, there are only three electives open for D-block this semester. All of those electives are full, which means there are many students left without any type of elective or core class during D-block. As one of those students, I feel very outraged.

When I met with my guidance councilor over the summer, I was told there temporarily wasn’t a class I could take during second semester for D-block, but was reassured it would be fixed before the second semester and that I didn’t have to worry about it. The second semester officially begun almost four weeks ago and the problem has yet to be resolved.

Ever since the second semester started, I’ve been at the guidance office every single day. When we got our new schedules, I was very confused as to why I still had a blank block because I was told earlier in the year the problem was under control and would be solved.

On the first day of the second semester I went to the guidance office. I was told that I’d have to go to the library for just that day and I thought nothing of it. I went back the next two days and the exact same thing happened. But this time, they told me one of the only solutions to the problem was to come up with my own independent study.

By the time Monday came around, I came up with an idea for an independent study. I proposed my idea to my guidance councilor and I was told it was going to take more time to start my independent study because I needed to find a teacher. But I found this a bit ridiculous because it felt like they were expecting us to do their job.

We had to find a teacher who had experience in the course we were creating by ourselves. Not to mention, we were expected to create the entire curriculum on our own with little or no help from a teacher or guidance counselor.

On top of being stressed out over trying to find a teacher who is willing to do this, the school kept sending us to the library every D-block. But being sent to the library only temporarily pushes the problem aside to be forgotten about.

Now, almost four weeks later, I’m being told that I have to go into a drawing one class that I have  already taken twice, and when I just took this drawing class for the second time last semester.

But if they really had nowhere to put me, why didn’t they put me in the class to begin with instead of sending me all over creation to assemble my own class? I’ve spent all of this time making a syllabus and creating a curriculum for an independent study, and actually starting the independent study, only to be told that my syllabus wasn’t what they were looking for.

I was told my syllabus wasn’t good enough, yet I had absolutely no teacher guidance; I had to do it by myself. How am I supposed to be expected to write a perfect syllabus without any guidelines or outline? I’m a student, not a teacher.

Honestly, this shouldn’t even be a problem in the first place. As a junior, I want to take fun electives that I get to choose, not be given electives that I don’t have any interest in. Yes, we do need to meet the required art and gym credits to graduate, but electives are suppose to be a choice. They are meant to be enjoyable and give you a break from core classes.

I come to school every day because I want to learn. I come here by choice because I want to establish a successful future for myself. I expect that when I come in, all of my blocks will be filled, just like they should be. I do my job and show up to school, and I expect that they will show up and do their jobs, as well.

I understand that someone made a mistake, but it shouldn’t be my responsibility to worry about blank blocks in my schedules. It should be taken care of for us automatically, but instead we have to take care of it ourselves. I’m not sure what they are going to do to fix this unresolved issue, but I do know either way we shouldn’t have to suffer because someone messed up our schedules.