High school students are extremely busy with school, extracurriculars, work, homework, and more, yet they don’t get breaks during school. Students should get more breaks during the school day, and this would help their stress level, mood, and academic performance. The school day is divided into 7 periods, with 4-5 periods before lunch and 2-3 periods after lunch. Lunch may seem like a break, but students have to hurry to get through the line, eat, and often spend the time catching up with homework. A longer lunch would be more of a real break. After a day of school, students go home or do after-school activities. Since they go all day without a real moment to relax, high school students need to have better breaks during the day.
Many students believe they should get breaks during school hours, saying they need a breather in an otherwise busy day. “We have no time to relax when we are in school all day. I wish we would have some time to relax and just chill,” said sophomore Olivia French. “If we would get time to chill during the day we could talk to our friends or even just not have stress on us.” When you are talking to your friends, you are not worrying about school that much and you enjoy the few minutes you get to talk to them. Teachers are supposed to teach content from bell to bell, which leaves no time for students to decompress.
Another reason some believe students should have a rest during the day is because so many kids have after school activities. “If we are doing things for drama, we could go home at 5 or even 8 o’clock,” said sophmore Nevaeh Bryson. Harrison High believes in pushing students to have “academic and social growth,” including a push to have every student involved in an extracurricular activity. Like Neveah says, though, being involved in things after school leads to extremely long days. She is on the move and doing things until 8 o’clock, by that time she is tired. Since she doesn’t get a break during the day, she often feels stressed. To support our goal of having student more involved after school, the school should work small breaks into the school day.
If high school students would get a little time to breathe and not stress, many believe they would be more productive and more ready to get back to school work until the end of the day. Ms. Sandy Kauffman, the high school wellness coordinator, suggested something that could be added to the school day. “Maybe we could do a 2-minute check-in. For 2 minutes, you could just breathe, so your mind can go from math to social studies.” Many students would like to have just 2 minutes just to relax. This small mental reset could help students transition and start each new bell fresh and ready to go, because the previous bell could’ve made them mad or upset.
Another reason students need breaks during the school day is because they are on computers most of the day. “Many studies have found that pausing for a moment to relax and reboot is essential for achieving productivity, success, and a positive outlook on the future. This is especially true for students who spend hours huddled in front of a computer.” The Science of Taking a Break – General Sites (onlineschools.org). When you spend hours on the computer, you will start to get a headache or you will be stressed out. People that work all day on the computer would like to have a break too.
We should have breaks during school as high school students. High school students are on computers all day, because that’s what staff and students use nowadays. We would like to have a 2 minute break at the beginning of the bell. Some people have after school activities, so they don’t have time to get all their homework done. Highschoolers deserve a break every once in a while.
