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The Coat of Arms

The Student News Site of Menlo School

The Coat of Arms

The Student News Site of Menlo School

The Coat of Arms

Assemblies are worthwhile

Assemblies+are+worthwhile

 With the student life block coming under scrutiny from students, the Coat of Arms looks at why assembly, what some say the biggest waste of time in in the student life block, may be worthwhile.

Nolan Peterson | Staff Reporter

Photo courtesy of Pete Zivkov

I’ll start with this disclaimer — what I’m about to say comes from me and only me. This is not propaganda, nor is it a quasi-public service announcement from the administration to relay a message to the student body. That being said, here comes the bold statement you’ve all been waiting for: assemblies are worthwhile. Before the audience dwindles down to just my mother, hear me out.

First comes the clear distinction: how often we have assemblies is a different issue. Is there a need to have an assembly almost every week? Probably not. In fact, the problem is that the power of an assembly is so often abused. Information that I can find in the student life email about clubs and lunchtime speakers do not deserve a whole hour of an ever so valuable school day. To waste students and teachers time that they could be using to be in class or finishing homework for some club announcements is ridiculous.

For every assembly filled with orchestra pieces that may seem to never end, there’s an assembly where Nick Woodman launches GoPro’s into the crowd of unsuspecting students.

But there’s more to assembly than prying off the greed of the uber-wealthy of course. While free GoPro’s are always appreciated, never did I think that I’d take anything meaningful away from Lori Okimura’s talk (the chair of the USA Volleyball board of directors). Like the majority of the students that day, I had no idea who was speaking that day, nonetheless who Ms. Okimura was. Would you have known about the Iranian lady who was thrown in prison for a year after trying to watch a simple volleyball game? Maybe it’s not the most earth-shattering news, but it’s still important in its own way.

Besides, what else would you be doing during that time anyway? Homework because you were too busy procrastinating last night? I get it that time is always of the essence, but is it really so hard to finish all your homework the night before? Why not start a worksheet two days before it’s due? I understand that it’s so much easier to wait until the last minute to finish, but cutting assembly to complete an assignment that should’ve been done two nights ago is kind of pathetic.

It seems now more than ever that assemblies are popping up every week for what students claim to be a “waste of time.” The waste of time here is the homework that should’ve been done already. Assemblies will always have their “cons” to pair with the “pros.” It’s only an hour, it won’t kill you, and you’ll never know if it’s worthwhile until you get there. However, the chances are you’ll learn something you never knew. The little moments are what make the assemblies big time. You may not enjoy it now, but you can thank me when you don’t have to write an apology letter to the seniors.

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