In order to graduate from DHS there is a list of certain classes that each student needs to take. If a student doesn’t have enough room in their schedule for all the needed classes along with the electives they want to take there is the option to take a seventh hour. Since seven hours are somewhat of a last resort for students there is not a fair number of students in each class and certainly nowhere near as many as there are in normal school hour classes. Students usually are not enrolled in them unless they have an extra class they wanted to take that wouldn’t fit into their schedule otherwise. Some students might never need to take a seventh hour because all their classes fit while others can be stuck with seventh hours for all four years while at DHS.

Even though it might be a pain to take an extra hour all year it can help students’ learning expand and it allows them to take extra classes that they otherwise would not have been allowed to take. But only a few classes are offered during seventh hour so it might not even be possible to take all the classes a student would want to have on their schedule.

As expected there are some downsides to taking seven hours. The students are required to be in school an hour longer than the rest of the student body not taking seven hours. Spending the extra time at school leaves less time after school for the student to spend time doing what they enjoy and there leaves less time to complete homework from other classes.

A substitute for taking seven hours but more classes than usual would be to either take an online class or a class offered over the summer in order to fulfill all the requirements to graduate. The majority of students think it’s easier to just take a seventh hour but others do not want to.

Taking a seventh hour is a helpful alternative that students are fortunate DHS offers. They allow for more possibilities and freedom when choosing classes and an opportunity to take advantage of learning possibilities and freedom.