School is not too long

Glen+Rock+High+School+hosts+many+students+who+believe+the+school+day+is+too+long%2C+but+research+suggests+that+longer+days+are+better.++

Glen Rock High School hosts many students who believe the school day is too long, but research suggests that longer days are better.

Girls Varsity Softball

2017-2018

by Nah Lee, staff writer

Students in Glen Rock High School spend about 7 hours per day in the school. 7 hours, which can seem too long for some people, is reasonable hours to spend in school.

Students are required to spend certain amount of hours in the school for each year. The minimum amount of hours required as school days per year, which are also called compulsory hours, vary among the states, but most states are on the range between 175 to 180 days of school and between 900 to 1,000 hours depending on the grade level. These minimum hours are not easy to break through therefore shorter school hours per day will lead to longer school days per year which not many students will prefer.

School is the place where students spend their time learning and studying. The minimum amount of hours that have to be spent in school per year suggests that it is critical for students to spend at least those hours in learning and studying in school.

As a high school student, I also thought that 58 minutes for each block and total 7 hours in the school was too long at first. One time, when I was interviewing a student who is living in Korea for my long feature article, I had personal conversation with her after the interview for a moment. I told her that my school ends at 2:54. She then became surprised and said that it ends much earlier than her school. After that day, my opinion toward the time spend in the school started to change.

As I am studying and learning in school, seven hours (technically six hours because an hour is for lunch) goes faster than I expected to be. After experiencing those fastly passing times everyday in the school, I think that 7 hours are actually not that long than I had thought before.

If schools become shorter than now, it will also be harder for teachers to cover all the materials that have to be taught to students every year. Scheduling a year for teachers is not an easy job; therefore, if the school hours are shortened, it will also be more challenging for teachers.

There are 24 hours per day. Suppose that a person spend 7 hours in the school and sleep for about 8 hours, which is a recommended sleep time per day for teenagers age between 14-17. There are still 9 hours for each day for students to spend their time on what they need or want to do including after school activities and homework. That should be enough time for the students to do as they wish.

It will be also helpful for their future if students are used to spend about 7 hours per day in school. When students grow up and get full-time jobs, they should expect to spend approximately 8 hours per day. Spending 7 hours in the school will give students good feeling about what it will be likely to spend 8 hours in their working place everyday.

Some people will criticize that school is too long. However, as a high school student, I think that school is not that long than I had thought before and since there are required minimum amount of school hours that we have to spend it is hard to break through that. Therefore, school is not too long.