School feels as though it’s only just begun and yet, for some, they already can’t wait for the year to end. Students seem to be trying less in classes. According to communication shared by the principal, in the first quarter alone here at Doherty, we had over one-thousand students with an F in one class or more. Are people just not turning in work? Are people not participating in class? Or, have classes become too difficult for students to handle?

Doherty teacher Eleanor Hastings worries about the trend. “The reason students are [failing is] not turning in work and [being] absent, but [the] problem is more complex. I believe the two years of disrupted learning and household issues stemming from the COVID 19 pandemic has dramatically affected this class of freshmen. Not only are students lacking basic literacy and math skills, but they are lacking the motivation to try.” She also said this when asked what students can do to try and prevent this in the future, “I always tell my students to TURN IT IN even if it’s not perfect. Unfortunately, that doesn’t address the real problem of learning loss due to the pandemic.”

According to a statistic shared to me by Mrs. Hastings, out of 161 students in 4 periods of Study Skills, there were at least 80 F’s. The class that students are failing the most is Math with 34 F’s, followed closely by Social Studies with 32 F’s, English with 30 F’s, and lastly, Science with 13 F’s.

English Tutor Devin Dunn worries about other students’ grades. “I feel like kids have so many F’s because they have just stopped caring. School is more about skipping and being a social person than it is about actually learning and focusing on getting your credits and graduating to create a better future for yourself.” What should we do moving forward? He said this, “The kids need to realize that high school prepares you for a better future, and that you should focus on building a transcript that you are proud of. This is mostly because of the fact that employers only want to hire people that seem qualified, and taking classes that will lead you to [become] qualified will help you to have a better chance of being employed in the future.”

So, how can we as students improve this quarter and for the rest of the year moving forward?

I believe that we should try to be better prepared in classes by studying and turning everything in on time. Spartans should also learn to ask for help when needed on an assignment or subject we don’t understand.

What do you think? Do students need to work harder, did the pandemic really hinder our learning capabilities, or is there something else making students fail?