At Harriton High School, RAM periods are very helpful to the majority of the school population. Students use this time to meet with teachers, work out, talk to their counselors and do any homework they need to complete. There are also students who take the wonderful opportunity of “Free” RAM to leave school a half an hour earlier. Students can leave the premises and do a variety of things with their time.
While the administration believes students do not use this time to their advantage, the majority of the school population takes this time and uses it wisely. The administration believes that RAM should be used to see teachers and work on homework. However, when some students attempt to meet with a teacher during RAM a good amount are busy. It is more beneficial for the student to meet with the teacher during a free period they both share or before/after school when other students will not interrupt. Also, the majority of students are more productive once they get home. Instead of being in a noisy library or a classroom with 20 other kids when they could either be in their peaceful home or a local library that is quiet consistently. While a good amount of students find RAM helpful for academic purposes, a good amount would prefer to have the option not to stay in school for longer than they would have to.
Some people have places to be after school also. Students have jobs that require them to be there at a certain time that would be hard to obtain if they leave at 2:40. Also some people have younger siblings who need to be picked up and parents who cannot pick them up. It would be unfair to those who actually have somewhere to be.
Restricting people to having to sign up for a specific RAM would be counterproductive. Not everyone has to meet with a teacher or be at a certain place for RAM. This would then cause people to have nowhere to go and leave them either wandering aimlessly around the building or distracting a peer or even teacher from receiving or giving help. The option of leaving the school would be helpful because it would eliminate the problem of people being distracting in classrooms or the hallway.
There are some people who do sign up for free RAM when they are just going to wander aimlessly, but this problem could be easily eliminated. Free RAMs should be limited to those who will definitely be leaving the premises. One way this could be made sure of is to have campus aids at the doors before people leave and have them check off their names. If someone had signed up for free RAM and didn’t leave, there would be repercussions. While this could be a hassle, there could be restrictions like time or a capacity of signing up.
In summation, eliminating the option of Free RAM would be a counterproductive action that many students, like myself, feel is very unfair.
