A normal week of school for students is going to school five days out of seven. I believe that being on this schedule is not beneficial to students nor teachers, and I noticed that we all need a break from being overworked and time to catch up with what’s going on around us.

I believe that school should be 4 days a week rather than 5, which means we will have a 3 day weekend. This schedule will help students’ performance in school, improve mental health, and the school and teachers will benefit. 

Each week, students are given multiple assignments or due dates, and the task becomes to make sure we get those assignments done and turned in on time rather than making sure that we understand the material completely. This isn’t beneficial to us because eventually we’ll complete a quiz or test on the material and we won’t do our best because we were not giving enough time to understand. 

If students were given one extra day to complete their work and to understand the material there would be an increase in their quality of education. Students of Oakridge School District, who follow a four-day week, had improvements in test scores and even in graduation rates. 

Also, with this new schedule, there will be an improvement in attendance. The Melstone School District changed their schedule to a four-day week and saw a 20% increase in attendance. An extra day would allow students to recover from being sick or attend a doctor’s appointment. 

This schedule can also help students who struggle with their mental health. By the age of 14, which is around the time students are starting high school, about 50% have already been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

It’s known that some students often skip school due to anxiety and feeling hopeless. Having a shorter week isn’t going to solve every issue, but it will help a struggling student catch up on work, provide time to study, or just simply give the student a needed break from school.

Additionally, a four-day week will be beneficial to our school and our teachers. When schools follow a four-day schedule, it’s sometimes to save money. So far, the maximum amount saved has been 5.43%. Even if saving isn’t our main goal, it is still a plus.

The schedule will also be great for teachers to get more work done, catch up on grading, collaborate with other teachers, attend meetings, and even focus on their personal life. 

This is a big change to make, but why wouldn’t you take the chance when overall it will be a helping hand? A four-day week of school has great pros for our academic performance, mental health, and school and staff. With the schedule we currently follow, we are cheating ourselves and not being as great as we really can be. 

Taking one extra day to catch up on work or our personal lives isn’t a bad thing. We need to prioritize taking care of business as well as ourselves so that when we are in school, we will be focused and succeed in our education.