Every student knows why he or she is required to come to school. Students come to learn the skills needed for a successful career in the future. These subjects require repetition, time taken out of a day to reinforce and teach these skills over a semester, or even a year. However, taking surveys, learning the ins and outs of Central’s counseling system and teaching communication skills are better learned outside of class.

We, the editorial board of the Central Times, oppose the idea of Advisory at Central. While the topics it would cover are important, we believe that most of these topics should either be taught before high school or integrated into other parts of the curriculum.

Two topics that Advisory would cover are using the Internet safely and avoiding plagiarism. As the Internet becomes more prevalent, this should be taught much earlier, in junior high or perhaps elementary school. Additionally, teachers should be responsible for teaching students how to collaborate without copying, as many already do.

Another Advisory topic we feel should be taught is efficient study skills. But we believe it is up to the teachers to teach this to their classes. There are different methods of studying for different subjects.

Advisory would take care of school business, such as announcements and surveys, and matters concerning social/emotional health. But we already have the mechanisms to handle this. Second period is a few minutes longer to accommodate announcements, and surveys, or other business, happens on late arrival days. Also, Student Services has programs to aid students who are struggling with social or emotional issues.

We appreciate the effort made by the administration to create and provide a sense of stability throughout a student’s high school career, but we believe that other solutions would be more effective and less costly for our school.

Specifically, the administration could improve our counseling system. Instead of having a counselor talk to an Advisory class, counselors could meet with students more frequently. This would allow the student-counselor relationship to develop and remove the need to a student-Advisory teacher relationship.

Other Naperville schools implemented Advisory in the past and students said they enjoyed the class period. Many praised the class because, in their mind, it could be treated as a study hall. Oftentimes, the period would be used to sleep, do homework or socialize. In short, it was an ineffective use of time.