Imagine an ideal world where there was a four-day workweek and a three-day break. Citizens would see improvements in their moods and productivity. This balance is crucial, especially for high school students who spend day-after-day in an enclosed building. Yet this is not the world we live in. Instead, poor attendance is at an all-time high and students’ behaviors are disengaged. By changing the schedule, costs for maintaining school will decrease, teachers will have more time to prepare for class, and students will be more time-efficient.
Both in work and in school, a shorter workweek has bettered the mental health of working citizens. In the Dallas School District website, Life School, the article “4-Day School Week May Yield Mental Health Benefits for Life School Students and Families” written by the school community shares, “The results on physical health and mental health were clear. More than 40% of employees noticed an improvement in their mental health and reported that feelings of anxiousness and negative thoughts decreased.” Simply by decreasing by one day, better emotions produce improved workers/students. Triton senior Liam Kneeland shared that shorter weeks could result in more “you time” as students are not benefitting from being “cooped up in a school for roughly 40 hours a week”. He believes that longer weekends would be ideal for older students who balance work and school.
Costs alone should be a considerable factor in shortening a school week, as it costs more to keep a school open for numerous days. Taking into account school lunches and bus transportation already bumps the prices. Data shown in the article “4 Studies to Know on 4-Day School Weeks” on the website Education Week, written by Sarah D. Sparks shares, “A more recent study of Oklahoma districts specifically found those that moved to four-day weeks saved about 2 percent of their budgets, driven by savings in non instructional costs such as operations, transportation, and food services.” By limiting the days in which schools are open, districts could potentially save a little over 2% of their budgets, which could be used to create advancements in the educational institutions.
In terms of students and their communication between one another, general behaviors are out of control. Whether it be acting out in ways such as destruction or even bullying, we have seen a decline in creating a comfortable space within schools. It’s possible that a four-day schedule could limit the number of physical fights between students. This was revealed in the article “The 4-Day School Week: Some Pros and Cons”, written for the website Cirriculum Solution, is factual data claiming that there was a 39% drop in the number of assaults and bullying, which is nearly double the effects of anti-bullying organized programming. The general discipline has improved which has made schools a safer environment to learn and engage with their peers.
Skeptics argue that the overall structure of the school year would be in jeopardy as students will likely be more burnt out with longer days, decreasing their academic performances. With shorter school weeks comes a longer school year, which cuts into summer break. While still in favor of a shorter week, senior Aiden Quinn fears that “shorter weeks will cause teachers to cram 5 days of work into 4 as well as having to reduce days of summer in order to fit the curriculum.” This proposes the question as to what happens when time comes for winter/Christmas breaks and the days off take away from overall vacation periods.
In this instance, it is important to take into consideration life after school. For the average person, you don’t receive a summer vacation of eight weeks off when working full time. Since most public districts have breaks across the school year, the transition wouldn’t have to jeopardize the length of summer vacation. By giving students an extra day off the need for long breaks wouldn’t feel as necessary, even if they are widely appreciated. Schools shouldn’t prepare students for a vacation routine that isn’t guaranteed after graduation. Throughout the year by cutting down to four days of work and three days off, the overall attitude towards work and school alone will improve the wellbeing of future employees by giving them a better balance between time spent working and living. It also might force students to put more effort into days on which could improve productivity which is an ideal skill. Student Kyle Regnier claims that “students will be more rejuvenated for the school week and in optimal condition to get work done,” which can be agreed on by many others.
As ideal as four days would be, there are definitely risks to look out for such as its effects on younger students with less supervision at home; however, upperclassmen will be able to prioritize academics to create a better work-life relationship when managing both jobs and sports.
