Block schedule undermines liberal arts qualities

This summer, members of our administration decided to shift our academic schedule to follow a block plan. The idea of taking only one class at a time was very intriguing at first. I had never experienced learning in this way and had high hopes that it would be similar to a J-Term four times over. While I was rather excited to experience block learning, it has not taken very long to realize some of the downfalls of this schedule.

CSB/SJU prides itself on being a top liberal arts college, but in the block schedule, you lose some of the coveted well-roundedness. While focusing on one class, it is hard to diversify your learning to multiple subjects. Not to mention those who are taking common curricular classes that must spend time away from their major and focus solely on another subject. In order to be a fully functioning liberal arts college, we must extend our wide-spread skills inside the classroom as well as outside of it.

Let’s not forget about our lives outside of the classroom. Many students on campus have jobs, clubs, or organizations that they are a part of and are losing out on time to focus on those. In a normal schedule, there would be some difficult classes, and some easier classes. In a block, you don’t have this balancing act of classes and time management. You have to deal with the class and its workload one at a time.

Another disadvantage to the block is the ability to build a routine. With our classes changing every month, every student is forced to change and adapt to their new schedule. For many students, this can be tough.

I understand the reasoning behind moving to the block schedule, but is it possible to learn “the same” as you would in a normal, non-block schedule? For many classes it is nearly impossible to learn the same amount of material in the three and a half weeks as it would a whole semester. Some classes will take the approach with this in mind, trimming down the class to ease the stress on students. This seems feasible, but where do we go after that?

Some students may get left behind and miss out on knowledge that they should have learned. They will miss out on this information due to condensed classes. Many would say that we should still attempt to learn the same amount and push through the class, because after the block, we will be moving on from that class and on to the next one. I don’t think this is the attitude we need when it comes to learning. We need to have more retention.

Learning something for weeks and proceeding to forget about it a week later is less than ideal. When working on a subject for months, you develop long term memory and a deeper knowledge of skills as opposed to a short-term memory that will fade quickly. It is commonly known that studying over long periods of time is much better than cramming the information. So why was this the choice for our institution?

If we want to stay on campus during this pandemic, this is one of our only options. It limits the number of close contacts exponentially. This applies to both the students and faculty members at St. John’s and St. Ben’s. Thus far, the decision to learn in a block schedule has been essential to our staying on campus.

Staying on campus with the ability to have in person classes has been a relief to say the least. While it has not been an ideal schedule, nor do I think it should continue after the pandemic, it has been sufficient, enough to get by for the semester.