The Truth About Hamber’s Crammed Classes this Year

Jeff Hitchcock/Flickr

Eric Hamber’s classes are overflowing this year, leaving many students unable to secure their places in classes. Because of this, Hamberites have been anxious regarding their lack of credits and counsellors have been working hastily to resolve issues in students’ schedules.

This is not a novel predicament, nor an issue exclusive to Hamber; in previous years, classes have been incredibly cramped throughout the District. Through an interview with Mr. C. Smith (Counseling), light has been shone on the issue.

“There [have] been parents who kept kids home out of school during the pandemic. A lot of kids have come back,” said Smith. As of the first semester of 2022, the severity of the pandemic has lessened. Therefore, an abundance of students have been returning to in-person classes at Hamber.

Along with that, travel bans have also been lifted in several countries.

“A lot of international students have returned after the pandemic,” said Smith.

The sudden increase in students has made arranging classes challenging this year.

Another cause of crammed classes is due to reduced funding. Funding has decreased due to the provincial government changing how money is distributed to schools.

“Schools [at] one point were funded [on a] per kid basis. [...] Then they went to a per block funding. So now schools get funding by the number of blocks they have,” Smith explains.

Because Hamber has fewer blocks this year compared to previous years, the funding has decreased. The increased number of students and decreased funding presents a problematic situation for the entire school to face. This issue has occurred before.

“I think this will happen more in the future, unless the funding gets better,” stated Smith.

To help accommodate for the disproportionate ratio of students to classes, additional blocks have been added, such as Photography 9 and 10, Food Studies 9 and 10, Science 10, and Math 10. Although these blocks have alleviated a lot of the stress, Smith asserts, “I believe that schools should be funded better.”

“I think other issues have come up because of the change when we went to
semester from linear. A bigger issue for kids is that sometimes [they] get a semester that is pretty difficult as opposed to having a balance,” said Smith.

If the provincial government funded schools better, it would allow a much more comfortable school year in terms of classes for students.

“Funding would provide more blocks, we wouldn’t have such [a] crowded [space],” said Smith.

As of now, an effective amount of additional funding seems unlikely. Hamber’s students will need to adjust themselves to a crowded school year.