Students have been frantically worrying about whether Academic Lab is going to be eliminated for the 2014-2015 school year. Before getting angry at the school, students should consider this debate from the school’s point of view.

Undoubtedly, some students do not use Ac Lab appropriately and instead  spend the whole period being unproductive. Some students waste time in the Commons because clubs and vending machines always have food to eat. Additionally, time often gets away from students when talking to friends or playing games on their phones.

Of course, not everybody chooses to spend Ac Lab that way; some utilize it very well. If used correctly, Ac Lab gives a time during school where students can meet with teachers, review difficult lessons, and complete work. Ac Lab also allows students to work on group projects if they cannot meet after school, and use computers if access at home isn’t possible. Ac Lab was designed to be a productive period and it would be wrong for the school to punish every student for other students’ mistakes. It would be easy for the school and the students to compromise on the continued presence of Ac Lab. One way to fix Ac Lab’s problems would be to put the students that don’t work in a stricter Ac Lab room where the teacher would check on how much work they completed.

It is easy to see why the school is concerned about this long, possibly wasteful period in the day. However, there are steps both the school and students can take so students can keep their beloved Ac Lab.