Is The Time At School Reasonable?

By Madison Navarrette

Usually, school starts at 8:12 am and ends at 3:17 pm, except for Monday’s where school starts at 9:07 am. But what if school started earlier, and ended sooner? If this was the case, then school would start at 7:10 am (when pre-first starts), and would end when minimum days usually end.

When choosing sides there are many different factors to consider. Isabella Franco, ’22, says that “school hours should just stay the same, because if school started earlier then that would make a lot of students mad. It would be early so a lot of students wouldn’t be able to think, because they would still be waking up.” These are all good things to consider, because the only people that sign up for pre-first classes are those who are willing to wake up early, and start their day. Franco also says that “my parents wouldn’t be able to pick me up, because they get off of work and go right to pick me up.” A lot of families have set schedules of times they leave for pick up and drop off, and these new changes would totally change the dynamic.

Other people have to think of what works for them or what would benefit them most. Daniela Martinez, ’21, says that “I think it would benefit us in the long run if school started earlier. I already take a pre-first anyways so new hours would just cut my day short, which no student would object to. Ending school earlier would mean more time for homework, so students wouldn’t have to stay up until after midnight to complete their work.” Many students who have AP classes, and getting sleep is very important. Students either have to stay up until hours after midnight, or wake up early to complete homework.

Along with the students that just don’t want to wake up early, there are those that have other things they do in the morning that don’t allow for a change. Samantha Thomas, ’22, mentions that “Some students routines are affected by their religions, like mine. In the morning, before school I go to seminary class, which sort of acts as my prefirst. If the school hours changed then I would have to take a class earlier in the morning, meaning I would have to get up earlier. I already stay up late doing homework so I would just be more tired.”

All things considered, people could go either way on this matter. Students who have a pre-first or AP classes might tend to go for new school hours, and students with none of these classes might tend to go for the school hours as is.

Adjustments are sometimes easier on some people than others, but this would be a change that would make many people’s routines change and some family routines would have to change.