Almost every week, members of various National Honor Societies sit in an empty classroom waiting for students who need tutoring to show up, but barely anyone does. This recurring emptiness highlights a greater issue among Walter Johnson students: very few take advantage of the academic help opportunities provided for them.
Many students, including myself, are quick to express their concerns and frustration about how they feel that certain classes and course contents move too fast or are difficult to keep up with. This is especially a commonly shared opinion from those enrolled in upper level classes such as AP’s. While AP classes can be undeniably challenging, many of us look the other way when help is presented to us.
The biggest disregarded academic resource by far are the National Honor Societies. Walter Johnson offers several, these include Math, Science, Social Studies (known as Rho Kappa), and Psychology (known as Psi Alpha). Unlike student-led clubs, these societies are nationally recognized programs with high standards, and beyond the societies making your college applications look good, they are there to provide tutoring services for all students year round led by both members of the societies and teachers in the subject.
But unfortunately, these free in-school provided tutoring services still have an extremely low show up rate. Despite being free and easily accessible, what tends to happen is that students show interest in the beginning of the year and then decide to forget about it.
Beyond student-led resources, the same lack of appreciation extends to the school library. Study materials and test prep sitting on the shelves of both the library and the college career center, while more utilized than tutoring, for some reason still go widely unnoticed. Furthermore, online MCPS resources are even less utilized than the library books.
That said, the entirety of the blame cannot all go on the students, but rather on the school’s poor communication. Possible reasons for such a low turnout may not necessarily be because they are being ignored, but rather because many just simply don’t know about these materials. Announcements are not listened to or get buried under hundreds of daily emails that inform students about honors societies. In addition, the library’s limited hours—open only before school and at lunch—make it hard for students to explore what’s available.
If the school made a better effort to advertise their materials, more people would be engaged, but for now, students just aren’t seeing them. Until awareness improves and students start taking initiative, valuable opportunities will continue to go to waste.
