I’ve only ever heard of study hall from Movies, TV, and books. My understanding of it is basically a free period where you do homework or study. I’m an American Millennial and I’ve never met anyone who had study hall. I get the vibe that it might have been a thing up to the 80s or 90s?
Is it still a thing somewhere? The closest I’ve come across was my high school had an option to let you work in lieu of electives if you needed to or an internship.
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Yeah, it’s basically just a free period where your schedule couldn’t fit a regular class.
We sure did. It wasn’t for credit, but students would take it just to have a class period without homework.
Yes, I had study hall in the 90s. We also had work release. My kids have “advisory”. During that period, they sometimes study and sometimes have lessons on things like drugs and bullying.
My school had it in the 2010s. Lots of kids there were ESL or had disabilities and would get extra tutoring during that time, those who didn’t need help would have study hall.
In my middle school we have a study hall period for people who do sports while they wait for their coaches. We also have an advisory which is a half period and it’s similar to study hall.
I’m an American Millennial and definitely had study hall
I had study hall in the late 90’s/ early 00’s.
Science classes had “labs” which took up an extra period twice a week. So on the other 3 days, you would have “study hall” where you report to a classroom (or auditorium) for a free period. There was a teacher in the room, but there was no lectures or assignments. It was just time to read or do schoolwork.
There weren’t many other options, since you couldn’t take a class 3 days a week and a lot of science classes required the lab periods. My kids aren’t in high school yet, so I don’t know how my current district does it.
American millennial also— I’m pretty sure mine did, but I took too many classes and never had one 🙁
The school I work in now has study hall as well; and even our middle school has it.
I’m a millennial too and we had it. You had to elect to take in in place of another class but it was available.
Of course. Didn’t everyone in America have study hall in high school? I got most of my homework done in study halls.
PS: I went to school 1969-1982.
Yes, they changed the name of it to enrichment, though. Now they call it WIN – What I Need
Yep, I graduated high school in 2011 and had study hall
Yes we had study hall. It was just an open period to do homework or whatever. We were required to report to a certain classroom that did have a teacher but it was more an open period for them too. Usually I just signed in and left because they didn’t care if you went to the library to study but no one ever checked if you actually got there.
Editing to add this was in the late ‘90s
My school never had it and I don’t know of anyone personally who had it now or 20+ years ago.
I can confirm my school had study hall when I was in twenty years ago.
…And now I realize, I’m getting old thanks for that OP.
It was something you choose. because they could not fill your schedule with classes. Gym is mandatory, but it is not a full term course, so if you don’t pick a course to fill in the other hours then you end up with free time, so they throw you in a room and call it study hall.
i had one in high school, it was basically a free period. i would use it to do homework
Went to HS in the early oughts, it was still a thing, but they were limiting it because kids would just skip having any electives and end up with most of the day doing nothing.
As a senior if you had it last period, and were in good academic and disciplinary standing you could sign in and leave for the day.
Yes in my school certain classes had double periods and if you had enough credits the day that wasn’t a double period was usually study hall.
Edit I graduated in 2016 and at the time my school still had them.
I’m an American millennial, and I had study hall like 2 semester in middle school. Though if I recall, it was an optional elective.
Yes.
Yep we had study hall in the 90s. Junior year I had two for teo semesters.
Yes we did. It was one class period per day.
We did, and it was very strictly conducted with NO talking, subject to a paddling if caught breaking that cardinal rule.
We had “homeroom” which was basically one class that was about 15-20 minutes longer, and during that period we were supposed to work on homework or something. Problem was that it was the beginning of the day so if the homework was going to be done it was done the night before. We also had about 5 minutes extra for the last class in the day for the teacher to play a school announcements video. Study Hall proper was not a thing.
Yes. At one point I had two.
Me personally no
Many of my friends did. I did graduate in the late 90’s
My niece in high school now still has study hall.
We had study hall in rural Ohio. The teachers overseeing had a wide range of strictness for what was allowed
My school didn’t have a “study hall” but instead had a full hour for lunch and we were encouraged to use it as a time to study or meet with our clubs throughout the week
Yeah, it just filled in an otherwise empty spot in your schedule. Seniors were allowed to leave school early if your last period of the day was study hall.
We still have it where I teach.
Yes. In fact I’d be surprised if a regular public high school didn’t.
Yes. Gym was 2-3 days a week, opposite that you had study hall 2-3 days per week.
We did.
You had core classes for each grade you had to take. You also had optional-core (Business-Computing (how to use word/excel/etc), or Comp-Sci 1 (QBasic programming)… Algebra 3, or Trigonometry…) – where there was a high-track and low-track option to fill a graduation requirement.
You then also had electives offered each semester (art, shop, music, economics, cooking, extra science classes, media/mass-communications) and if you didn’t want to take any of the electives you could fill that spot with a study-hall period, which meant either sitting quietly at a desk reading/doing-work, going to the library, or going to the computer lab. At most you could have 2 study-hall periods a day.
Note that most classes were also in this format – just with a teacher teaching: the idea of sitting in ‘groups’ or being able to talk to other students during class unless specifically permitted by the teacher for a class-related purpose was unheard-of. Phones and texting didn’t exist yet.
The honor-roll kids could go to a separate room that had a big-screen TV (rear-projection – flat panels weren’t invented yet), bean bag chairs and a games-console…. The attitude was that since they already had the highest grades in the school they didn’t need to be supervised during study-hall or sit quietly in rows doing schoolwork….
This was a public high-school, with college-acceptance and college graduation both in the 90%+ range.
We had study hall in middle school, but not high school. The reason for that though, is that we were on a block schedule. When you only have four classes per day, you can’t spend one of them doing nothing.
We had it. Usually it was during an elective course period (like art or music, etc) some of those were 2 days a week and some were three. So you had a study hall when on the days where you didn’t have an elective. Also, students that participated in an after school sport didn’t have to take gym, so that was a study hall for those students.
I did not have study hall, because I was in band and choir, and those were doing study hall hour. But there definitely was study hall. I was in high school in the early 00’s.
Class of ’01. I had study hall every year of high school. It was required in 9th grade, and then optional from then on. In 11th grade, I tried to schedule a full day of classes. That was dumb, so I dropped one of my electives and picked up study hall. I would spend 30 minutes racing through my homework and then nap the rest of the period. In 12th grade I managed to line up my schedule so that my last three periods were lunch, study hall, and swimming.
I graduated ’09 and had a study hall every year. I literally didn’t do any homework outside of school, so it was a must for me.
You didn’t have to take study hall. You could take any elective instead.
I had a study hall in the late 1960s. It was monitored by a faculty member in the library. We could study or do whatever as long as we were quiet. Those of us at my table played a game where you put a grid of dots and connect them with lines to make squares which you then put your initial in. As long as you could complete a square with one line it was still your turn. The one with the most squares was the winner. I don’t know the name of the game or even if it had a name.
American Millennial here.
We had it. It was often used to fill the other half of the year (or sometimes only nine weeks/one quarter of the year) for those who had a class that didn’t last the entire school year. For example, people in marching band who didn’t play an instrument (color guard and drill team) typically had marching band nine weeks of the year, study hall nine weeks, and then something else the last 18 weeks (like gym). Or, some people had gym one half of the year and study hall the other half.
It was also often used to supplement upper-level science classes. Our class periods were short, so a few of the science classes required a one-two day a week lab class in addition to the standard daily class. Most people had study hall on the days they weren’t in lab. (Though some people skipped lunch on lab days and had study hall other days.)
Lastly, lots of seniors would intentionally schedule study hall for certain periods because it was more of a free period for seniors specifically – we could go to the in-school student-run cafe for breakfast and sit in this comfy area and watch tv.
I graduated high school in 2010 and we had study hall from 7th grade up. Some students had 2 study halls, depending on the coursework they were taking and some also had none. My study hall experience was 100% like what you see on the movies, a quiet empty room with desks and students from all grades. You were required to bring schoolwork to do or a book to read. Some kids slept and that was generally allowed. It was expected that you had to be silent though and there was no group work.
ps. Will also add that I went to school in Ohio at a school with a graduating class size of around 230.
Yup. Study hall last period for seniors. Got to leave early. Wound up just drinking and smoking weed in the parking lot
It was a form of detention for most of us. “Study hall” at our school was for those behind on their homework.
We did. You had to be completely silent during the entire thing. Otherwise it was a detention.
In high school you could take a study hall session which was basically a “free period” except you had to be in the library. I opted for a third gym class.
Yes of course. For some kids they may not have if they had other things like music or band/orchestra or AP courses to fill their schedule
Mine was in the library and it was my favorite class because of that. An hour everyday to dick around in my favorite place ever? Sign me up. We even had the microfiche machine with all the past editions of our local paper.
I was a nerd.
I still am.
My middle and high schools had a tutorial period twice a week, where teachers held office hours, but you could also just go to an open room and work if you didn’t need to do anything else. But that’s definitely not a universal thing. A lot of times, schools also call their intervention classes for special ed or struggling students something along the lines of “study hall”.
That being said, though, you can tell students that a class will be “study hall” for the day, and they understand it as shorthand for “there’s no actual lesson planned and the expectation is that you work independently on something productive”