Stable Group. Students either do not pay attention, go to see other teachers, or visit other Stable Groups to see their friends. So why would we continue having it as a part of our schedule? As of the 2022-23 school year, Stable Group meets on Mondays from 9:42-10:42 and on Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:38-9:53. Every student is assigned to a Stable Group class with other students in their grade, and the groups are arranged by last name alphabetically ordered.  

As a sophomore who has gone through almost two full school years of Stable Group, I find Stable Group to be redundant and I believe it should be used for something different, or abolished overall. 

The current format of Stable Group was added to our class schedules in the 2017-18 school year with the intention of building relationships and connections among students and teachers along with teaching skills such as communication and self-management. 

I feel as if this intention has not been fulfilled seeing as an abundance of students do not pay attention to the infrequent curriculum we have in Stable Group. It does not count for a grade, so that is likely the reason why students don’t put much effort into the class. We also very rarely have lessons in Stable Group, so there is not much of a reason to sustain it. 

Every so often, there is an informative slideshow or video announcement that we watch in our Stable Group classes. Even though I feel it is important to share pressing information, there are other ways to do so instead of in a Stable Group class where the students will not pay attention. There could be an assembly, or a schoology announcement, as an alternative way of sharing information. 

Not only that, but I believe people would benefit if we took the time from Stable Group and put it to better use. For instance, we could extend Mustang block or lunch periods, or we could even utilize the Stable Group time to change the school start or end times. 

Even though Stable Group could serve an occasional purpose such as filling out necessary surveys, preparing for the sophomore MYP Personal Project, or being together during the sophmorphing trip, it otherwise does not serve much of a purpose at all. According to Meridian Assistant Principal, Mr. Laub, there are currently no plans to remove Stable Group from our schedules. 

“I go every day and I do nothing. I don’t even go into the classroom. I just sit outside and eat snacks for fun and chat with my friends. It’s like a Mustang block, but not really,” said sophomore Edith Jagerskog. “My favorite part of Stable Group is when my teacher provides snacks, but that’s my only good part.”  

Sophomore Ellie Friesen shared a similar opinion. 

“It [Stable Group] seems pretty pointless to be honest, because we kind of just sit there most days and my teacher doesn’t even play the videos, which is like, I don’t blame him. I don’t think they’re really useful at all,” Friesen said. “I think it [Stable Group] is a waste of time that we should invest in a longer study block so we can get things done, talk to teachers more and actually have time to take tests during Mustang block,” she said.

Although there are very minor purposes for Stable Group, it relatively serves no greater objective than being an extended mustang block.