For the 2019-2020 school year, the administration decided to implement a new pass system for GPS and crack down on the old one. Currently for GPS (Guided Personal Study) you need an orange pass to go to any room in the building.

Also, the deans and office have their own colored passes so teachers know where you are going. On one hand, this is a smart decision by the school. On the other hand, this causes issues and stess amongst students and teachers.

The system does have its perks. Students can no longer fake passes to other teachers and skip GPS because they will be stopped in the halls and asked for their bright orange pass. These passes must be signed in ink and filled out by the teacher.

Most, if not all, teachers have a stamp that has their own personalized signature on it which is supposed to make signing passes faster and easier.  The requirement is also a part of the problem. Students now have to wait for their teacher to find the orange pass, find their stamp and stamp the pass, fill it out and then they students can go to their next class.

Last year, there was no specific pass color and teachers could just use any piece of paper to let their students come to their classes. To some students, being able to get help from their teachers during GPS has a huge impact on their grades and can be the key to whether they pass or fail.

According to HarperCollege.edu, if you study for 3.3 hours a week on one subject you are most likely to get a grade of 70% of higher.

GPS is from 2:50-3:20 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday which adds up to an extra two hours on top of the 51 minute time we have during class.

GPS time could help some students a great deal, but the administration is restricting how we are getting access to how we can get there. With this new pass system, teachers are now having to get specific passes from the office for their students.

Well what happens when they run out of passes and a student needs one? The students have to find another time to go get a pass from the teacher at a different point in the day.

Even though the new procedures are additional hurdles to getting help during GPS, the benefit is just the organization factor. Some teachers will have their students write where they are going on the board so if anyone asks, they know where they are.

Over all I truly don’t think this system has enough positives compared to negatives. Hopefully, in the future the system will be seen as unnecessary and eventually be phased out.