The bell has just rang announcing the end of 3rd period, and it’s time to go to homeroom. I walk into my designated classroom, and I don’t even think twice when I take my regular seat in between sophomores Taylor Hoffman and Luke Williams. Seeing boys in my all girls homeroom is no surprise, since it’s been happening since late freshman year. “I never go to homeroom, and I never get a cut slip,” says Williams.
Bob Vujovich, head of the attendance office, says that he gets at least 100 cut slips for homeroom alone every day. Sharon Swanson, English teacher, says that when she takes attendance and mark people absent, there is no follow up.
Well, with more than 100 cut slips every day, and roughly 2,700 students, it may prove to be a difficult task to track down all of the homeroom hoppers, and properly issue reasonable consequences. “What I wish is that we would switch homeroom from every day, to once a week for 15 minutes to receive all of the necessary information,” Vujovich says.
Students who choose not to utilize the time will be facing new consequences. Assistant principal Kendall Griffen was on the video announcements on Tuesday, Feb. 14 stating that the students roaming the halls during homeroom has been increasing; therefore, the administration is cracking down on attendance in homeroom.
“In an attempt to get students into their homerooms we will continue the homeroom sweeps. Homeroom is a very important part of your schedule, and should be treated as any other part of your schedule,” he said.
Although students don’t take homeroom seriously, both sides of the spectrum need to be considered. If we were to eliminate homeroom from happening every day, and lean towards Vujovich’s suggestion of 15 minutes once a week just to receive the occasional valuable information, what would we do about the students who have homeroom lunch?
Sophomore Randy Tran wants to keep homeroom effective simply because he enjoys the brief break in the day.
With all of the announcements and other reminders that we receive in homeroom, one would think that students nearing graduation would attend homeroom to be sure not to miss out on any information involving the transition from high school to adulthood. On the contrary, it seems that with seniority comes a new found rebellion for the schedule.
“I haven’t been to homeroom in about three months, and I never get called down,” says senior Nermin Cantic.
Cantic claims that he doesn’t like to attend homeroom because it’s boring, and the gender barrier is also an issue.
Senior Ari Lazar agrees. “I’m already bored out of my mind in homeroom, we don’t need much of it.”
Although Niles West students may express disdain towards the all girls and all boys homerooms, principal Kaine Osburn believes that it is an essential part of the curriculum.
“Homeroom constitutes a regular daily point–for four years–through which a student can establish a contact with an adult in the building which is not related to grades or performance. This is very important, especially for creating lasting relationships between students (homeroom community) and between students and adults,” he said.
Opening up to one another, and to our homeroom teacher, proves to be easier once the mindset of being cautious of what you say in front of the opposite sex is broken.
What students need to realize is that the purpose of homeroom is to receive important information regarding things such as standardized tests, graduation, and other logistical issues, but when no one shows up, homeroom hopping could prove to be an issue, especially when some homerooms have no more than five students in them, while others have an overload of 20 or more students, both male and female.
Being a high school student myself, I highly doubt that my peers are going to start taking homeroom seriously anytime soon, or at all for that matter. Homeroom is a place to relax for 10 minutes, and it can even serve as a brief study hall. All we have to do is utilize the time that is given to us.
Kaine Osburn • Feb 20, 2012 at 9:10 AM
I think this is a great article and great topic. My quote about the importance of homeroom is already in the article, but I didn’t comment on the single gender issue, which is something that has upsides and downsides. Some background. We started trying this four years ago because there have been topics addressed in the past – bullying, decision making, etc – that sometimes call for conversations in which students might not be completely open because peers of the opposite gender are present. The fact is that young women feel more comfortable speaking to certain topics than young men and young men, therefore, tend not to engage on certain topics. (This is a fact borne out by some research.) By having homerooms organized by gender, the hope is that young men will speak up more when certain topics arise during homeroom conversation. Likewise, other topics can cause people to feel vulnerable in the presence of peers of the opposite gender. This doesn’t mean that every day female homerooms are engaged in “girl talk,” but that when such a topic might arise, often because of an important event or the like, then a space exists for certain kinds of conversations to take place more easily. Finally, it is hugely disappointing to hear that homeroom teachers are not showing homeroom announcements, especially considering how much hard work and passion go into making those videos and producing the announcements. Please strongly encourage your homeroom teacher to show the video announcements and let the administration know if there appears to be a barrier to the announcements being shown.
Tyler • Feb 21, 2012 at 2:18 AM
Sure, some people are more comfortable in front of members of their own gender. But isn’t it possible that segregating based on gender could be part of what led up to this discomfort? If we’re taught that people of the opposite sex are inherently different then that in turn breeds the sense that some things are only for the ears of our respective gender. The way to fix all of these problems and break gender stereotypes is not in dividing people based on gender. You have to mix people together in order to overcome these issues. Young men should feel comfortable speaking up in front of girls and vice versa. If they don’t feel comfortable doing that, then separating them will not help matters.
Also, I honestly can’t think of any instances in which sensitive issues that might be affected by gender have come up in homeroom. On the other hand, what about English classes? Depending on what the reading material is, an English class is much more likely to bring up sensitive material than homeroom. There are books that cover violence, rape, sex in general, and so many more issues that could affect people differently because of their gender. Yet our English classes aren’t segregated. I just don’t see any reason (practical or otherwise) to split up the homerooms based on gender aside from the furtherance of some really old and outdated notions about one’s sex.
Texas Tim • Feb 23, 2012 at 12:23 AM
What “conversations” does the school think go on in homeroom? I sincerely doubt that any homeroom in the school tries to tackle social issues through ten minutes of “girl talk.” Every other class we have is mixed-gender, and as Tyler said, those classes are where actual “conversations happen. In my own experience, people basically just talk to their friends about whatever. The only gender-specific places in real life are bathrooms, so why try to create this unrealistic atmosphere? It just seems really backwards and pointless. Plus, single-gender homerooms don’t accomodate some students who would actually feel more comfortable in the presence of the opposite sex. Funny how that works.
Tyler • Feb 19, 2012 at 12:17 AM
I think homeroom is important. It’s good to watch the announcements and get caught up on what’s going on at the school. Plus I enjoy the short break in between classes. I get to chat with friends (and maybe even cram some homework in). Provided that morning announcements are shown, I think it’s easy to argue the importance of homeroom.
That all being said, I honestly can’t believe how stupid the gender barrier is for homerooms. I can’t believe a high school like ours (which does things like “Peace Fest at West”) could do something as dumb and ignorant as separating homeroom based on gender. What kind of message does that send to students? Our genders don’t define who we are, and they are certainly not something so black and white that they can just be simply split up without some people feeling out of place. What about students that are more gender fluid than others? Things like this only fuel the idea that people who are gender fluid are “abnormal.” I can’t believe how discriminatory the gender separation in homerooms is. It doesn’t matter that a lot of people ignore that rule anyways. Just the fact that it is a rule is offensive enough.
Mara Shapiro • Feb 16, 2012 at 2:16 AM
Might I add that homeroom is also a valuable time for clubs to meet, such as Dance Marathon Morale Captains and Student Government, therefore another con with the 15 minutes a week plan.
Rebecca Yun • Feb 15, 2012 at 5:59 PM
See, here’s my issue. Many of the homeroom teachers don’t even show the morning announcements, so what’s the point of being in homeroom for ten minutes if you’re not being informed on the latest and greatest at West? Honestly, I love homeroom because it’s the one time of the day where I can talk to friends I don’t normally see during school. It’s also the perfect time to take a short nap, on the days where announcements aren’t shown.
In my opinion, the gender separation shouldn’t really matter. I wouldn’t mind if I was assigned to a homeroom with mostly boys because it doesn’t bother me to be around guys. For goodness sakes, I’m the only girl who writes for the sports department of the NWN; I can handle the dudes. I’m in a girls-only homeroom, but occasionally some boys will just come in and hang out. It’s really not that big of a deal. I mean, just as long as they’re watching the morning announcements, it should be okay. It’s not great that people aren’t going to their assigned homerooms, but at least some of the ‘homeroom-hoppers’ make an effort to see the announcements. Even the people serving Decalicious outside of my homeroom (student commons) quickly look in on the announcements to catch up on important information.
My solution? Get rid of the gender separation and enforce teachers to actually show the announcements. Some teachers don’t even make the effort to show students the morning announcements, which completely defeats the purpose of having homeroom in the first place. Also, students who homeroom-hop should be able to give their ID number to the teacher in charge of the homeroom, so that the attendance office knows that students are actually going to a homeroom. If you really want homeroom to have the feel of a normal class instead of ‘Those-dreaded-ten-minutes-of-school-where-I’m-bored-out-of-my-mind-because-we-do-absolutely-nothing’, then we should mix up the homerooms a bit and allow some boys to be mixed into girls’ homerooms and vice versa. If not that, at least allow students to have a different homeroom every year. Sometimes change is a good thing.
TheProcrastinator • Feb 21, 2012 at 4:13 PM
I totally agree with Rebecca. Some of my friends have no idea that certain events are going on until I ask them about them simply because the teacher doesn’t show them the announcements ever. Some homeroom teachers care about attendance while others don’t.
TheProcrastinator • Feb 15, 2012 at 4:16 PM
Honestly, the “importance” of homeroom really varies between each homeroom. As for my homeroom, it’s silent for those 10 minutes and then we leave. No one really says much and it doesn’t even feel like those 10 minutes are worth sitting around for. I admit that it would have been more lively had there been male+female homerooms since it’s not like we talk about “girl” stuff or anything.