As many of you already know, Chatty Matters posts various polls. One of the more recent polls was related to a question many of us have looked into ourselves: “What day of the week is your favorite schedule?”

There were a hundred votes in total for the five categories: thirty-eight votes for in-person Burgundy days, thirty-seven votes for in-person Silver days, fourteen votes for remote Silver days, seven votes for remote Burgundy days, and four votes for Charger days. Coalescing that information altogether into in-person versus remote, we have 75% of the votes attributed to in-person classes and 25% for remote classes. 

A three-to-one ratio in voting, especially in the three digit scale, is quite drastic – especially when we take into account several other factors. One of those factors is that non-students were able to vote (everyone can vote, as long as the questions are applicable). Another factor could be related to Burgundy versus Silver days, but the in-person and remote votes were all close enough for that to be more of an individual preference, rather than a decisive vote in favor of one or the other. There’s also one last factor: only four of the hundred voters chose Charger days.

For those who are unaware, Charger days (always on Fridays, discounting special occasions such as Labor Day which result in four day school weeks) are the only current days in which students are required to take all of their classes. To boot, the day is entirely remote – nobody needs to be in the school building. In fact, many teachers who commonly operate through Zoom and Google Meet can be seen in their households on these days. It’s a nice reminder that these brilliant people have their own personal lives, just like students and are able to be professional while not necessarily being in their classrooms  

Getting back to the point (we love you, teachers!), the low amount of votes for Charger days is… curious, to say the least. Only having to operate through three or four periods for the other days is a nice change of pace for most students. Additionally, having a given class only three days out of the week allows for more time to get various projects and pieces of homework done – a necessary boon due to the increase in homework many students have been faced with since the beginning of the school year. Could such an overwhelming favor of other days possibly indicate that this more spread-out schedule is more beneficial for students and teachers alike? Possibly, but probably not.

As many teachers and students already knew coming into this school year, learning online can be difficult. The physical presence of teachers and the school environment itself are, in many cases, almost necessary for students. That’s not even mentioning the need for social interaction – something that most of us, not just students and teachers, have been struggling with since quarantine. Thus, the need to be in-person is more than enough to have it be favorable above most of the rest.

The 21% of remote days that weren’t Charger days can likely be attributed to fully-remote students and those who simply learn best in a remote environment. While it is true that most people learn best when they’re directly in front of a teacher, with no digital disconnect to separate teacher and student, there are always others who simply don’t need that kind of in-person contact to learn best. 

Overall, the poll of what our favorite days of recent school are has been quite helpful, and will likely be a reference for future decisions. Individual preference can go one way or the other, but, at the end of the day, it is quite clear that many of us would prefer seeing our teachers again, rather than waving to them in front of a camera. 

Want to participate in polls just like this one? You can find them on the Chatty Matters homepage, and oftentimes to the side of most articles. We update the questions regularly, so be sure to check back in whenever you can! Have a great day Chargers!