The passing periods at MHS are currently five minutes to get from one class to another. Many students believe this isn’t long enough for them and their peers, while others believe that it is a perfect amount of time.

Five minutes is a sufficient amount of time for students to get to their classes.

As students who have to deal with passing periods eight times a day, we believe that the amount of time given for us and our peers to get to our classes on time is enough. Yes, the campus is big, but the majority of the buildings are very close to one another, so it’s not a long walk for students to get from class to class. For certain farther away classrooms, for instance the classes in the stadium and the new wing of the second floor, those teachers end class a few minutes early to give students a little extra time to get to their next class.

The five minute time span provides students enough time to get to their classes in an orderly fashion while also getting to interact and talk with their peers. If students get too much time between classes, a multitude of students might get into trouble. Students don’t need extra time to congregate and socialize between classes. Recently, a fight broke out on the second floor of the academic tower during a passing period, so students just need to keep moving to deter situations like that.

Many argue that the hallways are crowded and hard to navigate in five short minutes, but this will only be a problem for six more weeks until school ends in May. When students return to campus in the fall, the new four-story academic tower expansion will be fully open. Students won’t have to walk all the way to the stadium for any classes. They will have more hallways and stairwells to use.

In Texas, we are required to attend school 75,600 minutes a year. If we increase the passing periods by one or two minutes, then we would have to lengthen the school day. We already have to attend until 4 p.m. each day.

Even if the passing periods seem short to some students, it’s plenty of time for the majority of the student population to get from one class to another without causing distress and issues. The passing period should remain five minutes.