Four Day School Week

As whispers of a schedule change to a four-day school week reach the attentive ears of the students, a humming buzz of interest fills the school. Students daydream about the potential benefits that would accompany the alteration, gossiping with their peers at every possible chance in an attempt to discern all of the information. The more they consider the new four-day week, the more they wish for a change. The students would be able to sleep late for an extra day every week and spend more time with their family and friends. This is the reason why over a hundred school districts, mainly in rural communities, have made the change. However, the four-day school week is not as ideal as it originally seems. A myriad of problems accompanies these

The alteration of the school schedule would also decrease productivity in students of all ages. It is exceedingly difficult for teenagers to focus for eight hours at a time, let alone ten. Dr. Iroise Dumontheil, author of research regarding the development of students, declared that it was not due to lack of motivation that students have trouble focusing in school. She stated, “it’s not the fault of teenagers that they can’t concentrate… Adolescents simply don’t have the same mental capacities as an adult” (A. Hill 2010). Accordingly, by asking students to remain in classes for an extra two hours a day, school systems are requesting more devotion from teenagers who cannot focus for lengthy periods of time due to their developing brains. To complete the matter further, the excision of Fridays from the school schedule would also cause teenagers to lose precious hours of sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers require around 8 to 10 hours of sleep in order to function at full capacity; otherwise, they will not be productive in school (National Sleep Foundation n.d.). How can overscheduled teenagers attend sports practice or club meetings, finish all of their homework, and perform any family or job obligations in such a short period of time? Assuming a student arrives home from school and immediately begins to accomplish his list of tasks, he would have only three hours to do so if he were aiming to obtain the recommended levels of sleep. This arrangement is not reasonable. This arrangement will lead to sleep deprivation. This arrangement will cause the performance of all students to suffer. The four-day school week is unreasonable in its demands of students, whose productivity levels would drop as their hours of sleep