The pandemic has led to myriad changes in the daily lives of Cary Academy students. Notably, the school adopted “Flex days” during the 2020-21 school year each Wednesday. However, this year, with all students on campus, Wednesday Flex days have turned into X Days and C Days. On C Days, students attend each of their core academic classes. Students are not allowed to have assessments on C Days. Additionally, students do not have homework due or assigned on C Days. While C Days consist of Monday A Days and Tuesday B Days being metaphorically copied and pasted into a fast-paced school day, X Day is a chance for opportunities.

 

Students have much to explore on the sign up sheet that is dozens of pages long and lists and explains each activity in meticulous detail. Feeling artsy? Sign up for the open art room, in which students can go in and create whatever it is they are feeling that particular Wednesday morning. Feeling competitive? I recommend card games in the board game room. Want to enjoy the splendid weather? Put your name down for games on the picturesque quad.

 

However, there are slight imperfections to the system. Last year, while several mandatory meetings were held on Flex days, Flex days occurred each week so students always had time to do things during the rest of the day. However, since X days are far and few between, mandatory meetings scramble to claim times. In the end, X days can sometimes feel like an accumulation of mandatory meetings rather than a day of exploration and fun.

 

Another slight defect is how fast activities fill up. Of course, there is a limit to how many students can participate in a single activities before it becomes utter chaos, but these restrictions mean that students sometimes spend their time in activities they aren’t completely engaged in when they could be spending their time completing homework and other activities.

 

Let’s take a look at Flex days. Flex days were somewhat similar to our current X day arrangement, although they were considerably more lax in their enforcements and offered a smaller variety of events for students. This day was a day students took advantage of for things such as homework, catching up on sleep, or even simply hanging out with friends. In fact, having a day in the middle of the week to use as a break and as time to complete work related to or separate from school was incredibly helpful at times and eased a lot of stress.

 

One major drawback, however, was precisely how lax and malleable Flex days were. Sometimes time that could be spent on homework or other educationally enriching activities was spent sleeping or procrastinating instead. In the end, Flex day became a day known for relaxation rather than its true purpose: education outside of a rigid school schedule.

 

Let us now tackle the big question that remains: is Flex day or X-day better?

 

My findings from interviewing my peers were quite surprising. One would think students would much prefer Flex days to X-days, since with Flex days there was no rigid schedule. However, my peers were near evenly split.

 

For the students who enjoy X-day, one of the main reasons cited was the sheer variety of options available. One sophomore remarked, “I like X-day because there are a ton of opportunities and stuff to do that you can sign up for.” Another preferred Flex day “because you get to do more.”

 

These are valid reasons. On X-days, there are full-day trips to the zoo and amusement parks; fun activities that dive into the culinary, artistic, and creative aspects of craft; and some chill time students can utilize to their full advantage with either friends or to themselves.

 

The only difference seems to be that these activities, which would have been self-directed on Flex days last year, are instead organized and scheduled on campus this year. However, the nice thing is that students still have a lot of freedom to structure their days as they wish, as the only requirement they must fulfill is maintaining a full schedule.

 

Students who prefer Flex day says that Flex days offered a full day to be off campus and have time to themselves, whether that involved doing homework or participating in other educational activities. One of my fellow students who preferred Flex days says, “I get time to myself and don’t have to feel like I have to do something.” Another corroborated this statement, commenting, “I prefer Flex days because I think they gave us an opportunity to not only catch up on work but also participate in activities outside of school that offer a change of pace from being on campus every day.”

 

A preference for Flex days is perfectly valid and understandable. Flex day was a much-needed day to catch up on work from classes from previous two days, as well as an appreciated break before diving into the chaos of the next two days.

 

In the end, Flex days and X-days are both unique aspects of the Cary Academy schedule. Seldom do schools provide students such large chunks of freedom to experience new opportunities and pursue their interests. Both schedules are quite nice in terms of the different opportunities they offer, and perhaps we shall have to see what more X-day has to offer this year before doing  another true comparison.