The returning students of McKinley High School may find the new schedule feels a little funky. That’s because it is.

Occasionally having two consecutive odd days are quite a bother. Odd days have four class periods and therefore longer school days. More periods a day means it’s more likely there will be more homework. Since the school days are also longer, students have less time to complete their homework. This makes it stressful to get homework done since it is due the next day. That means students rush to get an entire day of homework done on those tragic Thursday nights.

There will almost always be an even day that precedes the two consecutive odd days. This means there will be at least four days until the next even day. This extended break from even periods could cause students to forget what was learned in class, making it harder to learn the material needed.

This lengthy period also tempts students to procrastinate on their even day schoolwork. When a matador waves his muleta at a bull, they can’t blame the bull for charging at them. Likewise, when the schedule gives a student four days to procrastinate on work, don’t expect them not to take that opportunity to do so.

The consecutive odd days limit students’ focus to odd day work only; this could possibly prevent students from even getting started on even day homework. So even if they wanted to be a good student and not procrastinate, they will still have setbacks they can’t control.

One problem is teachers have set meetings, but even days aren’t going to disappear, so meetings can be moved to accommodate the switch as well.

If the whole point of the new schedule was to help students have a consistent weekly schedule, starting the week with odd days wouldn’t defeat the point. By shifting things one day, and starting the week on an odd day, this gives students adequate time to get their work done for their first day back from the weekend. There still will be a four day gap, but since it is an odd day, there probably will be more work to get done which solves the procrastination problem. It also helps you get more time to do three classes worth of homework due the next day.  This way, students are less stressed and would have more time to complete homework assignments as well as study time.