High school students seem to be constantly playing catch up when it comes to homework, social interactions, family life, and most importantly, sleep. Researchers have suggested multiple solutions to this problem, but the best option is to reduce the length of school days.
In today’s world, an average teen’s stress level is rated at 5.8 out of 10. This could be due to all of the different responsibilities that a teenager takes on. Teens’ stress levels are significantly higher than the average adult’s by two whole points.
“Once you speak with teens individually, they would come up with different stressors in their lives,” said Bishop Gorman’s Wellness Counselor, Pam Cross, “but I think generally, the main one is school.”
If you pile the different aspects of high school onto a student’s shoulders, it is impossible for them not to feel the pressure.
”Whether it is the classes themselves, extracurricular activities at school, relationships within the school, school is definitely the number one stressor,” said Cross.
One solution to this seemingly endless cycle is to implement shorter school days into teenage lives. Researchers believe that shorter school days will improve high school students’ mental health and sleep cycles.
“I think [shorter days] would be helpful and definitely something to look into more,” said Pam Cross.
With the extra time on their hands, students would also be able to participate in more extracurricular activities. Through these experiences, students learn valuable life skills and create important relationships with peers while staying active.
“The benefits of extracurriculars are the connections and learning from other people. If you are part of a team, the goal is not about you, it’s about the group. When you learn to work with other adults, it’s another voice that you are listening to, other than your parents,” said Pam Cross.
If teenagers were collectively able to go to school for a shorter amount of time, there would be less stress and more room to improve each student. However, you still have to consider another portion of the student body.
“You look at the other side of that, too. Let’s say there’s a student who’s not as involved in extracurricular activities. If their main socialization is school, and you cut it shorter, then there is no other place for them to find connections,” said Pam Cross.
If Bishop Gorman could implement these shorter school days into the year, the majority of students would benefit from this change. However, high schoolers at Bishop Gorman are in a unique situation: they have digital days. These select days allow the students to complete their class work in the comfort of their home, giving them a “free” day.
“These digital days in the middle of the week give the students something to look forward to. These students knew that they only had to do schoolwork for a certain number of hours and then the afternoon would be free,” said Pam Cross.
Shorter school days or not, high schoolers just need to incorporate things into their lives to eliminate the stress. But how can we fix this? Pam Cross says she “always goes back to the basics.”
“Any student that I talk to, I always ask if they are sleeping and how much sleep they are getting. Every teen needs the right amount of sleep, movement, and nutrition in order to properly function,” said Pam Cross.
Maybe shorter school days are in the future for Bishop Gorman students, but as of right now, students just need to prioritize their sleep and nutrition. If we all made sure to do this, teenagers wouldn’t feel like they are playing catch up; instead, they’d feel like they are in first place.
