Why we should have a free period

Cadence Slankard, Reporter

       Many kids these days are experiencing much stress due to an overload of school work, and due to that, grades may start to drop. Since For students to be at school for eight hours a day, five days a week, and having back to back classes every day, it’s hard for most students to keep up with all of their work. 

         In some schools, there is a split lunch period where half the period is for eating, and the other half is dedicated to working on whatever students choose. Because this would be a very beneficial time for both teachers and students, the school should implement it.  

      Most teachers these days give too many overloads of homework, and if not, they give too many overloads of classwork. Most teenagers struggle to get work done during class with there being distractions all around, so the work that is not completed in class will just become homework anyway. A free period would give kids the opportunity to do this work so that they won’t have to do the work at home.

         With high school teachers teaching hundreds of students every day, and some of them teaching multiple subjects, you can see how the workload can become stressful and hard to handle. A free period would give time for teachers to rest and do any grading that is needed so that they won’t have to keep themselves up all night trying to do it. Some teachers have rowdy classes, and having this time to themselves without students in the room, would give them a relaxed period to prepare themselves for the next class. 

      Mental health is a very serious issue among teenagers today, in the teenage world these days, and school plays a big role in that. Due to the stress from school and everything going on in the world lately,  teenagers’ mental health is taking a large toll downward. A free period would give students the time of day to rest their minds in between all the craziness of school and trying to get all their work done. Most students have to deal with mean teachers, dumb high school drama, deadlines, keeping their grades under control, and athletes have to worry about practices and always making sure that they are doing the best in their sport that they can possibly be doing. On top of that, some students have serious family issues to deal with at home. All this can really take a toll on a teenager and having this free period can help their minds rest throughout a long, stressful day. 

       This free period has even more benefits to teachers and students than is listed and this idea should really be explored and talked about more in the school. In order to accomplish this plan, all the school would have to do would be to extend the hours a little more in the morning, and a little more in the afternoon around the end of a normal school day and this would add about an extra 30 minutes to the school day. These extra 30 minutes would not be used to try and cram information into students’ heads, but be used to relax students and give them a chance to do all the things they can’t get through with during school hours.