Over the past few months,with the introduction of the house system in the name of school spirit, we have had multiple house meetings during tutorial – which is intended to be a designated time for students to do academic work. Tutorial is an incredibly valuable time for students, as it is a reliable time to complete homework, prepare for tests, or meet with clubs. However, recently it has become unreliable, as house meetings are scheduled on very short notice (sometimes day-of), so you can never be sure you will actually be able to attend tutorial on any given day. Tutorial has become a guessing game.
During an interview with some of the house leaders, it became clear that they were aware the loss of tutorial time would be an issue, but they didn’t think it would create any large problems. In this meeting, they stated that many students use tutorial purely for socialization and playing games on their computers. “So we didn’t think we were impeding that much… we totally understand we are, but we didn’t think it was going to have that great of effect,” one of the house leaders said.
While this argument is valid, it also paints a single story about tutorial that is not fair to all students. The tutorial was—and should be—a time students can count on: whether they use it to complete work or take a break from it. To put it in the wise words of my co-editor, Elizabeth Hare, “Tutorial is there to give people the option to work; what they do with their time should be theirs to decide, period.”
Tutorial is a time that students have grown accustomed to, and so when it is taken away with extremely short notice, it causes stress. If the point of the houses is to foster joy and belonging, why are house meetings making students worry about turning in their assignments on time? I felt this firsthand, when I had planned to retake a math test during tutorial. However, the day before the test, I learned that we had a house meeting that day. It left me scrambling to find another time, and in the end required me to skip a club meeting to be able to complete my test. House meetings, though created with good intentions, have become a recipe for stress that degrades students’ learning environment.
However, all of this said, there are other options. Tutorial is not the only time for house meetings. Houses could be integrated into rallies, with each competing against the others in games. Houses could host “house days” during lunch, similar to club days, with games and fundraising opportunities for the program. Tutorial is not the only time for house activities. Tutorial should always be a time for the students, and no matter how students use it, it should never be taken away from them.
