The Need for More Rest and Recovery
Ten days is how long winter break will be for students and teachers at Park High this year. Everyone could use a break after being in classes and working for about four months. Colleges have about a whole month off so their students get to rest and prepare to go back.
Park High students and staff don’t need to have a full month off like the college kids, high school is less vigorous work than college. Two weeks would even be better than the disheartening ten days Park High was granted.
Two weeks would only be four more days and wouldn’t make students do such a short week where they can barely get anything done before the weekend. Park High specifically has many Fridays off from school, a small handful of which could easily be traded for a few more days of break.
Everyone in the building already has long and busy days during school, but then less than two weeks after they come back from the break they have to do finals, arguably the most stressful part of the year.
Once break ends, semester finals are just around the corner. Students must start studying for tests and working on final projects, which students want to do well on. However, this can be hard to do when one is still exhausted and not rested enough. Students can come back from break still feeling burnt out, which will inevitably affect how they perform in class. School must be rough on the students; if it weren’t, they would only sometimes be craving more time off from it.
Teachers also deserve a break from all that they do. It’s a well-known fact that the job of a teacher doesn’t end once the bell rings dismissing students at 3:33 pm. Many teachers still have to grade their students’ work, plan classes, and find or make resources to teach with. Some teachers at Park High also manage clubs or help coach students outside of school.
With so much going on it takes away from their time they have to spend with families or taking care of things around the house. The same thing goes for students; having more time out of school they can do productive activities they never have time for during the year without missing school. For example, students can go and look at college campuses, research, plan for the future, or sign up for scholarships.
A longer break would help prevent students from getting burned out when everything builds up constantly with no time to breathe and just be something besides a student for a change. Summer won’t be for another six months and spring break is about just as long if not shorter.
That’s not a lot of time to rest and recuperate from all the stress that piles up during school. The CDC says that 29% (about one-third) of high school students have poor mental health and that that number is rising; longer breaks can cut down on the level of stress the students have to bear which could help with their mental health.