According to a recent survey, the majority of the class of 2025 feel inadequately prepared for their first year. “The “culture shock” that happened when I got to MLWGS was really intense,” said freshman Katie Watson. “The switch from middle school to high school would have been difficult already, but COVID added to that. My experience differed greatly from what I expected because I was simultaneously being met where I was and pulled into new content and experiences very quickly.”

With the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, most of the freshman class has only had a single full-curriculum middle school year, which was in the 6th grade. Our 7th-grade year was essentially cut in half, leaving holes in some areas of knowledge. Students and teachers had to adjust to a virtual or hybrid schedule, taking away essential instructional time.

The overall sentiment among those students who felt inadequately prepared appears to be that COVID-19 is the main reason for the abnormally difficult adjustment. However, there are still many students who saw no issue and found it to be an easy adjustment to the schedule. Ruby Freyer is one of them, voicing, “I have always been taught to have good time management, and I feel that previously having the skill to manage my time effectively allowed me to manage the MLWGS workload.” Other students who stand in this group bluntly believe that some students are not efficient enough with their time and surmise that their peers lack motivation and effort.

As a freshman myself, the workload here at Walker is both prodigious and expected. It was a difficult change to go from virtual class, in which I flourished, back to in-person classes, which require a bit more effort. Although most teachers are empathetic to the adjustment, it’s an interesting phenomenon that some students decide to leave Maggie Walker because of the onerous workload. From personal experience, I know that the 30-minute homework policy is not always followed and enforced. There are good days where I have spent less than an hour completing homework, but as the school year has progressed, I have occasionally spent 2-3 hours a night on homework alone.

Freshman Jillian Wilson elaborated, stating, “Coming here, having difficult work all day, and then having one to two hours of homework was a huge adjustment, and I was stressed beyond belief.” The varied grading scales across classes are vastly confusing to keep track of. Christopher Moore, one of the freshman class co-presidents, discussed the issue. Moore proposes a universal grading scale for all classes, with homework worth 30%, quizzes worth 30%, and tests/assessments worth 40%. Though the chances of the grading system changing are slim, the suggestion is something to be considered for the sake of students’ mental health.

What I have concluded from this observation is that our class is evenly split on this matter. While other factors may play into individual standpoints, such as course rigor and study halls, I believe our administration should better prepare students for the expectations here. Every student who gets accepted into our school works incredibly hard for the opportunity, and it is unnerving to know that the pure shock of the Walker schedule causes students to quit.

There should never be a time when a student’s hard work becomes pointless because of circumstances that they have no control over. Maggie Walker is preparing students for college and will eventually produce the intended results, but how is that college preparation useful to a student who decides not to attend the school?