Administration at LHS has cracked down on the First 10/Last 10 policy this year, but how do people truly feel about it? We asked a student and a teacher to let us know what they think.
As most students are probably aware, LHS administration has instituted a guideline that states that students are not allowed to leave the classroom in the first or last 10 minutes of each class period. Students and teachers alike have strong feelings about how well the policy accomplishes its goal.
Lincoln High social studies teacher Lindsey Herting said in an interview, “I completely understand Admin’s perspective in requesting the First 10/Last 10 policy, however at times for psychology it can be a bit of a challenge.”
Herting explained that her classes generally begin with five-ten minutes of warm-up and review of the previous day’s lesson. This is followed by about 30 minutes of the primary lesson or demonstration, and finally another five-ten minutes to do a closing activity and finish up the day. Herting said, “If [a student] misses five minutes within that demonstration, they miss out on a lot of the meat of the lesson.”
LHS senior Alex Hill described her classes in a similar way, often having five-ten minutes at the beginning and end of class that is primarily for review and setting up the day. Hill said in an interview, “I would much rather miss some basic instruction of how the day is going to go; what the plan is, as opposed to the actual lesson.”
This being said, the preferred time to miss instruction is not the only part of this story; it is also about restrooms. Students are told to use the restroom during their six minute passing period, however Hill said, “A lot of my classes go from south building to main building and there’s not enough time to do that and also use the restroom” which is something that many LHS students have experienced. If students and teachers followed the First 10/Last 10 policy, there is a 26 minute span of time when students can not use the restroom, and if they go during the thirty minutes on either side of that, they risk missing important class time.
Attempts to reach out to administration for comment were unsuccessful, and The Advocate also could not find any information about the policy. There was no documentation of the guideline around the school, sent from admin, or in the student handbook.
Since each class is structured slightly differently, many believe it should be the teacher’s decision of when students can leave class. Hill said, “If it were up to me… the teachers would propose their own plan for the class and it would be up to Larsen… to decide whether or not that works for [admin].”
Overall, students and teachers have expressed understanding for the request of the guideline, however it doesn’t necessarily accomplish its intended goal.
Will Statmore | Sep 19, 2022 at 9:02 am
I am so excited that somebody finally wanted to talk about this! It feels like the first 10/ last 10 rule is used to make it easier to punish late students than to actually help teachers.