Editorial: Advisory is unnecessary

ADVISORY NEEDS TO CHANGE

Current structure doesn’t help McLean students

The staff editorial represents the opinion of the majority of The Highlander editorial board

This school year, FCPS introduced advisory, a period where students receive social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons. For McLean students, the program is not doing anything other than wasting their time.

Advisory is run by Big Macs every couple of silver days, using up half of students’ Highlander Time. Instead of having time to work on homework or study, students sit through lessons that are neither productive nor engaging. Walking into an advisory period classroom, it is apparent that students are bored and struggling to see a point in their time being stolen.

“[Advisory] teaches us these lessons that aren’t very groundbreaking,” sophomore Jackie Palmer said. “It [makes me wonder], ‘Why do we need to be here?’”

Since students are not engaged and do not want to sit through what is essentially a half-hour lecture, there is no reason to force them to do so.

“[During regular Highlander Time] you can hang out with friends, do homework or just be productive in other ways that you can’t during advisory,” Palmer said.

The return to in-person school not only revived many extracurricular activities but also removed most of last year’s lenient grading policies. With the rush of activity and higher expectations, Highlander Time provides students a valuable opportunity to talk to teachers, finish assignments or unwind a bit amid all the chaos.

“We understand that students are overwhelmed,” said counselor Greg Olcott, the social-emotional liaison for McLean. “We get that they might feel that they would rather work on [other things] during that time than sit and listen to potentially unenthusiastic students go over a lesson.”

Despite this acknowledgment, Big Macs are required to deliver presentations they have no control over, which isn’t the role they signed up for.

“The Big Macs are the ones delivering the advisory lessons, but advisory isn’t really a part of McLeadership,” Olcott said.

McLeadership is intended to help newer students get acclimated to the school, not to deliver SEL lessons. Instead, Big Macs could use that time to build connections with students and aid them in their adjustment at McLean.

Letting Big Macs have complete control over how this time is spent would also give students more time to engage in activities they would rather do—exactly the kind of social and emotional learning they need after over a year of pandemic restrictions.

This shift would also give Big Macs back their own Highlander Time. If students were not required to be in advisory, then Big Macs would be better able to manage their own lives while still being available to help any students who may want mentorship.

Advisory could instead be an additional resource for any students who may be struggling with adjusting back to in-person learning. Personal mentorship is much closer to what McLeadership is meant for, so Big Macs would be more suited to this format.

Making changes to advisory is essential in order to help everyone at McLean manage the various stresses of the school year.

[Advisory] teaches us these lessons that aren’t very groundbreaking. It [makes me wonder], ‘Why do we need to be

here?’” - JACKIE PALMER SOPHOMORE