Advantages And Disadvantages Of Block Scheduling

One reason why school should start later is because students will have more sleep. If students get more sleep then they will be more focused. Teens on average need at least 9 hours of sleep every night. With our school schedules teens are getting less than 7 hours of sleep every night. Also scientists say that sleep can help with memory and your health.

High school starts at 7:30 in the morning in most places. High school students typically get up an hour before or earlier in order to get ready for the day ahead. High schools should begin classes an hour later so that students may have more rest so they may be more aware and more likely to learn.

When we think of schools around the world that are changing from a traditional five day school week to a four-day school we think “okay why not” but there are actually both pros and cons about having a four day school week. Faced with unstable fuel and energy prices and rising education costs, school districts across the nation are considering ways in which to reduce their money and increase use of limited resources. Leadership is one of the main things students need work on when having a four day school week. Also, professional development for teachers is a big thing for a four day school week. The lack of revenue causes schools to look at ways to reduce money such as a four day school week.

The alteration of the school schedule would also decrease productivity in students of all ages. It is exceedingly difficult for teenagers to focus for eight hours at a time, let alone ten. Dr. Iroise Dumontheil, author of research regarding the development of students, declared that it was not due to lack of motivation that students have trouble focusing in school. She stated, “it’s not the fault of teenagers that they can’t concentrate… Adolescents simply don’t have the same mental capacities as an adult” (A. Hill 2010). Accordingly, by asking students to remain in classes for an extra two hours a day, school systems are requesting more devotion from teenagers who cannot focus for lengthy periods of time due to their developing brains. To complete the matter further, the excision of Fridays from the school schedule would also cause teenagers to lose precious hours of sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers require around 8 to 10 hours of sleep in order to function at full capacity; otherwise, they will not be productive in school (National Sleep Foundation n.d.). How can overscheduled teenagers attend sports practice or club meetings, finish all of their homework, and perform any family or job obligations in such a short period of time? Assuming a student arrives home from school and immediately begins to accomplish his list of tasks, he would have only three hours to do so if he were aiming to obtain the recommended levels of sleep. This arrangement is not reasonable. This arrangement will lead to sleep deprivation. This arrangement will cause the performance of all students to suffer. The four-day school week is unreasonable in its demands of students, whose productivity levels would drop as their hours of sleep

For the last few years, schools across the United States have made conscious efforts to delay school start times. The push for a later school start has been led by doctors and parents who believe students do not receive the suggested eight-and-a-half hours of sleep daily. A later start time does not guarantee more sleep for students as students may just go to bed even later usual. A later start time could also change the times for after-school activities for many students. As a result of a later start time, both students and teachers will come home to families late into night. For these important and practical reasons, schools should not change school start times.

Are students in the United States being overworked by the school system? Traditionally, American schools use a five day school week. The five day week is prolonged and overworks children and teens. Extra days decrease motivation of not only students but staff or teachers as well. Lowered motivation creates low performance, which discourages the students even more. When there is no encouragement, the teenagers often don’t show up to school. The lack of effort correlates to teachers because it could dispirit them from doing work they want to assign in class. Changing to a four day school week can give additional benefits to all parties involved including students, teachers, and the school settings.

Year round school may seem arbitrary to the everyday person who has become accustomed to the standard 10 month cycle that most of the United States functions on. This year round style of school has started to become popular throughout the U.S., allowing students a short 2-3 week break about every 2 months to refresh their readiness to learn. This style of schooling is new to the academic world and has little study done on it thus far, but the benefits it has shown in its debut have been astounding. There are many aspects to consider when thinking of year round school including scheduling, academic benefits, and problems that may arise with this change in scheduling.

Imagine staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish the homework that had been accumulated during the day, only to have to get up a few hours later to catch the school bus, knowing that succeeding in class the next day would be short of a miracle. For many students, this scenario is not only feared but a reality they must face. The American Academy of Pediatrics states, “About 90% of high-school-aged adolescents get insufficient sleep on school nights…”(“Early Start Times and Depression”). Because of the lack of sleep students face, it poses serious problems for them the next day inside and outside of the classroom. Countless schools across America start earlier than the recommended

There are around 365 days in a year, and in a school year, there are around 180 days. From the beginning of the school year to the end, the most common thing that students least like, is homework. Coming home after a long day of school, then having responsibilities to do at home, not to mention some students have after school activities which take up around 2 hours if not more. Homework for students is a barrier that makes it difficult for them to have any kind of social life, or spend time with their family. There are many reasons why students shouldn’t have homework, during this essay people will learn why having homework isn’t helping the student, except making things more difficult for them.

Four-day school weeks have the capability to change student lives. Every school should invest in the four-day school week plan. Implementing this routine would allow teachers more time to teach and give students the option to do their homework during class, in turn creating student success. All of these factors would help to enhance student and faculty life, while promoting success in the classroom. Having a school system run on a four-day rotation would increase their success by offering more opportunities for lesson and work time.

Stress has become a major issue for high school students. Many students have seven classes, participate in sports, have after school activities, homework, and need to get an adequate amount of sleep each night. Some parents and outside influencers don’t see the benefits of having a longer lunch period for high school students. Students complain about how long school is now but they don 't have enough time outside of school to complete everything they are expected to. While it is understandable that some parents wouldn’t want longer lunches because it could result in safety issues and students having to remain in school 30 minutes longer than the traditional time, longer lunches would give students a chance to complete homework, get help from teachers, and eat a nutritious meal. All of which are lacked during a school day with a 30 minute lunch block.

Homework. It’s arguably the thing children dread the most. Children go to school for eight hours a day and then are expected to come home and do school work. Kids hate it, and parents hate arguing with their children to do their homework, but is it really all bad? James Atwater is of the opinion that homework should be banned. Among his ten reasons why are that homework has no academic benefit, homework encourages bad learning habits, and homework has detrimental health effects. Contrary to what Atwater argues, I believe that there is actually a lot of value in students being assigned homework.

I gained this information at Debate.org which also says “Image how much stress it would be on all students and the poor teachers! What about them and how are we suppoed to pay for three hours, they already stay at school planning so will have no time left at all!” On a website called Education.seattlepi.com says that other people that extend the time of school isn’t going too give students more learning, it also says that “If the methods used currently aren’t working, spending more time using those same methods isn’t going to change

I urge you to take a moment to put yourself in the students’ shoes. First, they wake up around 7 or 6 o’clock so they can get ready for school, which starts at 8:30, and spend 7 hours of

Picture this: you get home from school after two one hour-long clubs and after sports. You rush home, devour dinner, and it’s about 6:30. You still have two or three hours of homework to do. You finish your homework at around 8:30, and then play on their phone until midnight and fall asleep. Then you wake up the next morning, still very tired, and do it all over again. Sounds familiar, right? But, what would happen if the school day was longer, and there was less homework? Students need a longer school day with less homework because it reduces stress in students and adults, provides better ways to learn, and homework provides little benefit.