High school students are accused of being some of the laziest people in our world, but are we really? I know teachers who dole out overflowing buckets of homework, and the next day, you’re forced to tell them that you didn’t have the time, or you were busy, or even you weren’t feeling well, and so that assignment is incomplete. They simply say, “There are 24 hours in a day.” How do I respond to that? I usually find myself mumbling “Yes, I know, I’m sorry” or a simple “okay.” But maybe their response would change if I showed them what those 24 hours are already overflowing with for high schoolers.
An average high school student is saddled with school for six and a half hours, where we attend about seven classes, each 45-60 minutes long. Then most of us head straight to an after-school activity; each sport or club takes up about two hours of our time. While not everyone participates in a sport or club, the majority of students do.
People should be sleeping from 9-10 hours every night, and even more so for teenagers, but reiterating the fact that students are extremely busy people, an average student spends a scant 7-8 hours with their eyes shut each night.
We are already down to 8 and a half hours, assuming we got the minimum amount of sleep, so the question is, what do we do with this time? We spend about an hour a day on personal hygiene and getting ready for the day; 7 and a half hours left. Eating and drinking (which is a necessary task) takes about 2 hours. Spending time with family or friends (just being social) can take about an hour. With only 4 and a half hours left, let’s talk about driving. Even if you don’t drive, an individual spends at least one hour in commute daily.
There are 3 and a half hours left, and homework is still a concern. Adding in the time it takes for homework, as well as all the extra things that fill the rests in the clamor of our day, we have reached the 24-hour mark. This allotment of hours may not be accurate for your life; you may have more homework or sleep longer. But it still feels that time slips by even faster than the hands on the clock fly. I know that being in school is hard, and sometimes it’s impossible to fight the clock’s 24 hours for free time. But regardless of your situation, be sure to make time for the people you love. Take some of that 24 hours for yourself.
This is a really good opinion article! Also very timely with your schools time shift. I find it ironic that your schools are shifting their start and end time to give students more sleep and rest, but still hasn’t considered the amount of homework a student receives,any after school programs or sports, or other personal things such as health and socialization. Just because you shift the time doesn’t mean you increase anything for any students, The time it takes to do anything is the same. Some of my friends in AHS has this struggle, and commitment, which is admirable, but again the time shift doesn’t help.
-anonymouse