Every day, students wander the halls of Tenafly High School, trying to enter their class before the four minutes run out and hoping that they won’t be marked late. When students try to run to class in order to make it in time they get in trouble. Furthermore, as it states in the Tiger Q, if an individual is late to a class five times, it could result in an afternoon detention. In addition, students could also receive detention for running in the hallways, even if they were simply doing it to reach their classes on time. The debate whether students should have a longer passing time to move from one class to another has been a longstanding issue in schools worldwide. Some argue that a four-minute passing period between classes helps students be efficient, while others believe it doesn’t meet the needs of students. So, is four minutes enough time to reach one class from another?
Ms. Tara Haggerty, one of the three Student Support Leaders at the school, stated that she thinks four minutes is enough time to go from one class to another. “The whole goal is to just focus, and get where you need to be,” she said. Haggerty said the time frame encourages students to be punctual and logical with their movements in between classes. Research shows that it helps students develop time-management skills that can be helpful in their academic and future professional lives. In support of this, Haggerty further argued that four minutes is not only sufficient but actually an ample amount of time, saying that THS is a small building with only two floors. “I came from a high school where we had four floors plus a basement, and we only had a four-minute passing time, and we were able to get to where we needed to be on time,” she said. When she was later asked if many students complain about this topic, she said that they do but only the ones who are excessively late to class.
Students, not surprisingly, feel differently about this issue. “I am always late to class… I usually have to rush from class to class because some of them are upstairs and some are downstairs,” Maya Sodri (’26) said. Critics of the policy contend that a four-minute passing time can lead to more stress and anxiety levels for students, especially in overcrowded or large schools. Moreover, THS currently has 1,166 students; therefore, 1,166 students roaming the school’s hallways all at the same time can definitely feel crowded at times.
Overall, this debate can never be settled, for both arguments have great reasoning. For the people who agree with Sodri, hopefully in the future, the four-minute passing time will be increased to six minutes as in other schools throughout the state of New Jersey. In the event that the passing time will not change, for those who are constantly late to class: take this opportunity to be more efficient with your time and make sure to stay organized.
