As the school year winds down with the end of AP testing and finals, an attitude of apathy seeps into the students and staff of Leonardtown. Signs of summer tantalize us with temptations of class outside and weekend barbecues by the pool. Whimsical daydreams quickly turn to frustration as we realize we still have a month left in school, as the building rapidly seems to become more of a prison then a place of education. With the number of school days left slowly declining, the students at LHS approach the biggest gear-grinder of the year—the last week of school.
Ask any student at Leonardtown how much they learn in the last five days of the year, and you’re likely to get laughed at in your face. Once the senior class stops coming to school the place becomes a ghost town, and the empty hallways and classroom just serve as an extra reminder that the rest of us are stuck here for two more weeks. The question is, why? Why is it required that students go to school for 180 days? Why keep the schools open, the air conditioning running, and the staff paid for an entire extra week when no learning is happening? It’s June. Everyone and their mother have checked out of school, and that includes the teachers. Unless you get stuck with that one teacher that takes it us as their moral responsibility to make sure you’re still learning new lessons on June 8th.
“Shouldn’t we have covered this, oh, I don’t know, before our final last week?”
Perhaps the last week of school would be more bearable if there were a purpose to it. Perhaps we take finals for classes during this week? I mean, isn’t that why they’re called finals? No? Oh, never mind then, the last week of school makes perfect sense now.