The highly debated subject of school hours and vacation schedules

How high school students feel about school start times and vacation schedules

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Sadie Malmevik

Rise and no shine: Around the time of the first bell going off, kids get off the bus and head into the school. Students had to get up early to get to school in time to make the first bell, at 7:30. “It’s too early definitely and seems unfair other schools start later,” Plank said.

School times are a much debated topic among high school students; some students enjoy waking up early and getting work done sooner and others prefer having extra time in the morning. Another debated topic among students is when winter, spring and summer breaks should take place. Many students enjoy the couple of months away from school and getting to enjoy their lives during summer; others think it affects them educationally and many think that spring and winter break are too short.

In my opinion, school start times are too early, and I’d be able to concentrate more if I had more time in the morning. Also in my opinion, having a month for each break (a month for winter, spring and summer breaks) would be the most efficient because it’s a good amount of time to relax but also not too long t forget the things I learned in school.

According to junior Maleah Plank, school should start later.

“School should start at 8 because that gives people more time to sleep and get ready,” Plank said.

Having school start later could possibly free up some time during the morning for more sleep or more time to get ready. Having a couple months off for summer break can affect her educationally sometimes.

“Sometimes it does especially with Spanish, having summer homework like they do with AP but with regular classes would be a good idea,” Plank said.

Plank believes that yes, sometimes having so much time away from school can affect students educationally and a way to fix that is to have summer homework for all classes like they do for AP classes.

Junior Marshal Brown shares Plank’s view on wanting school to start later.

“School should start at 9 and end around 3 because I’d be more awake and I’m very willing to stay later after school,” Brown said.

For Brown having later start times would help him to concentrate and be more awake in class. If it was up to him our school breaks would be scheduled differently too.

“There should be three  weeks for winter break, two weeks for spring break and summer should stay the same,” Brown said. Having more vacation days could be more relaxing for some students.

Senior Heather Mathis believes that if school started later it could benefit teens that have to work.

“School starts too early because many teens have to work late and need more time for homework,” Mathis said.

If school were to start later, then students who work could maybe have more time to get homework done. Mathis believes that the winter break schedule should be different.

“I feel like finals should be done before so you don’t have to stress about them over break,” Mathis said.

Having finals after winter break can be disruptive to learning and cause more stress before finals. Having school start so early can have some advantages but it also has its disadvantages. Many students would prefer to have school start later and would love to have longer breaks.