Chelsea High School hasn’t always had trimesters. Some students and teachers believe that trimesters are beneficial and give students more school-focused classes. However, others struggle with the increased classwork. Teachers also have to adjust the time of their lessons. Teachers and students find that these struggles affect them. While there are some positives to the trimester system, the overall impact on both students and teachers may not be as beneficial as hoped.
“I do not like trimesters for high school, and especially mathematics. I feel that math is a subject that builds on itself, and not doing it for 3.5 months in the middle of the school year is not what is best for kids,” math teacher Heather Hugg said.
Having trimesters can put on some challenging weight as a student who tries to balance as many things as they possibly can. However, students might start to like trimesters more than semesters because of the flexibility of the schedule and being able to choose their own elective classes
“I passed up on photography because I wanted to stay in certain classes, but I passed up on two tris of fitness,” freshman John Orlandi said. “I wanted to stay in a language class, but I also stayed in an orchestra. And so both those combined only gave me one more credit, which I spent on advanced fit for one tri.”
The flexibility with the trimesters is great; not only do you get to pick your classes, but you can move them around and switch in and out, and not be stuck with the same classes all year.
“When you take semesters as a student, you are stuck in classes throughout the entire year,” Orlandi said. “But with trimesters, you get to experience a lot of new classes, and trimesters can give students a wider variety of choices to pick from.”
Although you are stuck with the same classes, there could be an upside to the situation, and you can learn all your classes without any breaks.
“There is research about summer retention loss, but having no math in the winter term is longer than summer. Or if students do have math back-to-back terms, then they will go 6 months or possibly 9 months before taking it again,” Hugg said.
