Some schools give students a free period before or after lunch. It gives students time to relax, study, and talk with their friends, or even just eat their lunch in silence. This would be a very beneficial thing for both the students and teachers. 

Having a free period, even if it was only 30 minutes long, would still benefit the students. Some students might not have time to complete a homework assignment at home, so this would give them time to finish the homework before they go home. Students who maybe wanna just sit in silence or listen to music while they read, write, relax, and etc. can do so during a free period. After having a bit of time to relax, students will be able to concentrate more on class and classwork, which will lead to better grades. 

Having a free period would also help teachers. Without students being loud in class after teachers tell them multiple times to be quiet, teachers will also have a chance to relax. After a couple of terrible classes, a teacher can get pretty irritated and overall not be in a good mood. The free period would give teachers a chance to chill and not have to worry about dealing with students for a few minutes a day. Teachers have a stressful job, so giving them a bit of free time would benefit their mental health and make them less stressed about grading papers and telling students to get their work turned in. 

Adding a free period to the schedule would also teach students responsibility. Students will now have to keep track of time and know when to go to their next class. This, of course, teaches kids time management skills and gives them more responsibility. Schools never fail to make sure they’re teaching the students responsibility, and a free period would greatly help with that. 

Some people might worry about what this will do to school hours, but that’s actually an easy fix. If West Hardin set their school hours to 7:40 am – 3:45. This would only add an extra 15 minutes to both the morning and the afternoon, but students and teachers would basically get thirty minutes of off-time during the day.