School time should be put aside for student walks

Katie Stanish

Juniors Katie Stanish and Brooke Buckingham embrace each other at the WCHS walk for Breast Cancer awareness Oct. 17 during school. Many students wanted to participate in the walk but felt that they could not, for they feared missing out on educational time.

By Allison Jacobs, Assistant News Editor

Seniors Karly Emery and Jenny Dalrymple hosted a walk for Breast Cancer Awareness during second period Oct. 17. Students and staff were encouraged to leave class, walk a lap around the track, then return back to class. However, some teachers did not encourage their students to leave class or continued to teach and left students under the impression that if they walked out, they would miss important lessons.

This brought up an important question: Should educational time be taken out of the school day for walks? The simple answer is yes, it should. Students should feel comfortable going out and supporting a cause that they believe in. They should never feel afraid to leave class because of school pressures, like lessons or quizzes.

While it is understable that teachers do not want to stop teaching, it is unfair that students should feel bad or scared to leave class to support an issue they are passionate about. The only answer is a compromise: take out educational time or abbreviate the school day to accommodate the time needed for a walk.

According to senior Karly Emery, time should be taken out of class for walks because it is for a good cause.

While WCHS-hosted walks may not raise as much money or draw as many people as national walkouts, the idea to raise awareness and to get students out and active for a cause is the goal. The idea that students can be shamed into not leaving class or are too scared about their grades to leave is disappointing. Students should want to go out and participate in activities for a greater cause than their grades, but if they feel uncomfortable due to teacher’s remarks, then it makes them not want to.

If teachers are not willing to let students leave, add a time block so that it is a official part of the school day and teachers cannot avoid it. By doing this, students will not miss any lessons or homework, and teachers do not have to stress about catching random students up with work. Each teacher can plan and accommodate their lesson plans and work assigned for that day so that there is an appropriate amount of work for the period.

Students should never feel pressure to go against things they believe in and want to support.

According to Emery, teachers do not want to leave for walks because they may not support the cause or do not want to take time out of their class.

According to a 2016 Health article, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day, which is a 60-mile walk for breast cancer awareness, has gotten over 500,000 participants since it began in 2003, and raised over $8 million to go towards research and treatment programs.

Many people can benefit from one person going out to support a cause, whether it is through donations or just knowing someone is there for you. These walks are very important to the people that are participating in them and for people that the walk is for, so everyone who wants to join in should.

Time should be taken out of the school day because students should not feel like they cannot support things they believe in. They should not be afraid to express their emotions and beliefs because a teacher will not let them. Students should be allowed to voice their opinions without worrying about pressure from a teacher to finish work or miss an important lesson; it’s as simple as that.