Why is it an "overload?"

Why has signing up for band, or choir, or orchestra, or art, become an "overload?" The American Heritage Dictionary defines an overload as "An excessive load." So to me, an excessive load means that I am taking more that what is allowed by the school. Let's take a look at this and see how this is possible.

Okay, from the beginning we know that there are 7 class periods in the day, plus 30 minutes for lunch. So we can fill our day with 7 1/2 "classes." I say "classes" because lunch is scheduled into your day even though it is not a class. There are now several classes, 5 total, that are required of Freshman as they enter high school, and they are:

• English
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• PE/Health

Since these are required, we now only have 2 left over for "electives." I say "electives" because according to No Child Left Behind Act, music classes are not electives, they are considered apart of core subjects. Which begs another question, why doesn't our district consider music as a core subject when the No Child Left Behind Act does? If you figure that one out, I'd love to hear your answer because I haven't figured it out yet.

Those two electives can come from a number of places. So if you fill those two spots, then you have a FULL class load. NOT and overload. Let's say you fill your classes with Foreign Language and Band, if you do that then you are filling your time with academic courses and will become a better student, a better person, and will have more credits as you near graduation.

Is Marching Band part of Band? NO. Marching Band is a voluntary organization which rehearses outside of the school day. Students earn 1/2 credit on their High School transcripts for participating in Marching Band, but it is not part of their scheduled courses.

Why do they call it an overload if it's not actually an overload? There may be several reasons for this, so here are just a few possibilities.

The first one is that due to budget cuts over the years, the number of staff we have has been reduced. Fewer staff means fewer offerings of a particular subject and also means larger class sizes.

Another one is that because of the budget cuts, it costs less to house 135 students in one class, study hall, and have teachers babysit them than it does to be paying the teachers to teach all of those students. With the average class size approaching 30, that would mean that there would need to be 5 teachers for that one class of study hall. There are actually about 3 or less teachers supervising those study halls, so the district is saving money.

There are many more I'm sure of it, but the main reason why we want that overload term changed to a full load, is because we want to educate our students. We want them to grow and be the best that they can so they are smarter and better when they leave. And if you fill your day with a study hall, and let's be honest students don't use it anyway, then why not fill your day with academic courses that will teach you something.

That's just my two cents on this and I hope you all take a look at what you feel is best for your child, your student.

Cappy