Students in the Renton School District have switched over from the semester system in order to give students the opportunity to explore new electives and earn the credits they need in order to graduate, but at what cost?

This is the first time in years since the Renton School District and its students have seen this big of a change in their schedules. Instead of the traditional semester system that many students are familiar and grew up with, Renton School District has implemented a new trimester system for middle school and high school starting with the 2018-19 year and beyond.

Ever since the announcement of this change to the schedule system, students have shared their thoughts which include a variety of opinions on a spectrum ranging from absolute hatred to support and acceptance.

The motive of this change is to allow students who may be lacking in credits the chance to earn the amount required to graduate and to explore their interests in electives they may have never thought to take before.  This system cannot be deemed successful until the statistics and the rates of students who have graduated on the trimester is compared to previous years where students have graduated on the semester system. The outcome should be higher graduation rates and supposedly more well-rounded students, but how do the students feel about this change and its effectiveness at the moment?

“I hate them, because while they were created with the intent of giving us more credits, all it’s doing is making us learn half a years’ worth of curriculum in a couple of months. It’s stressful and I lose my stamina for school really quickly. The teachers seem to be really stressed and rushed as well so everybody is just not happy, and it makes for a really bad learning environment. But you know, extra electives, so woo-hoo, I guess,” shared an anonymous sophomore at Renton High School says.

“I’m glad that I’m able to try out new electives that I never thought of trying before, even if I didn’t want to be enrolled in it at first. But, at times I do feel like I’m rushing to get my work done and it feels like the quality isn’t there. I feel like some of my teachers are scrambling to get their lessons planned and scheduled around the breaks and end of trimesters,” an anonymous junior claims.

These two opinions reflect the wide array of opinions that the RHS student body encompasses on the topic.

It is evident that with these changes comes consequences and repercussions. The shift from the semester schedule system to the trimester system has sparked mixed reactions from not only the students, but the staff here as well. Though the length of the class periods is extended, the overall number of minutes is less than the number of minutes compared to previous years that were running on the semester system. Teachers can be seen scrambling to create their lesson plans that work along with the breaks from school and the end of trimester in session.

“It it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”- Bert Lance.