Some sixth forms and colleges have implemented contracts to ensure students do not leave the campus during school hours. Has this been working? Is it better for the students? What can it really achieve?
From being stuck inside the walls of a primary school/secondary school for 11 years from 9 o’ clock to 3’ o clock, students have been used to staying indoors which is why colleges believe students should be let out during breaks and lunches. It’s also due to the fact that students are given free periods and empty time slots in which they have supposed free-reign to do whatever they want. After 11 years of being stuck indoors, students have an overwhelming surplus of options of things to do during these short spaces of time. Let us weigh out both sides.
A very small percentile of colleges will restrict students from leaving the premises as a plan to maximise use of resources such as the libraries, contact with teachers and study-group sessions with classmates. This would also leave them with no choice but to revise during their time between lessons. Students from colleges like this have told me that it forces them to spend their time wisely and maximise learning time but also surround themselves with college peers as a time to socialise and make new friends. Few colleges have been said to do this because they believe that the area is unsafe for students and they could be left vulnerable in the “unsafe streets” in the area.
Most colleges disagree with the previous reasoning. They believe that students are old enough to be able to manage their own time properly without the aid of older authority. Additionally, that it prepares the youth for the world ahead of them where they will have to take their own initiative in using their time well. It gives them the freedom to slowly guide themselves into adulthood where the people telling them what to do and when to do it will be reduced by a large significant margin. Students from my college have said that it lets them behave by themselves and learn the consequences of management letting them be in charge of their schedules. Others have said that it allows them to use the outside world, as they won’t always have their resources in one single building forcing them to venture outside their comfort. Furthermore, it can help them utilise supplies and adjusting to adulthood by giving the chance for young adults to become familiar and come to terms with the idea they will not always be in full-time education.
Both sides of the argument have proven to be advantageous and always in the motive to help the students. But it seems as though letting students out of the premises will benefit young adults in the long term and, not only, the short term.
-Mohammed Rebut Kamal.
