Persuasive Essay

                                                    Persuasive Essay
                                                       Tara Watnaas
     Have you ever had one of those days where you are too tired to do anything because
you were up late the night before studying for a test? Or do you sometimes feel like you never see your family anymore because school and extracurricular activities consume your life?
Having too long of school days affects students in all aspects of life.
     One main reason I believe school days should be shorter is because with the eight hours
of sitting in school, plus the amount of homework we are given, plus all of the extracurricular activities students tend to be involved in, amounts to a whole day. I understand that school comes before extracurricular activities, but also, involvement is key. Your parents always want you to be involved, but still do well in school. Sometimes, when it comes down to it, you just can’t do both. For some kids, school is a struggle and perhaps they feel like sports or other activities are all that they excel at, but by not allowing them to be involved in an activity because their school work is overwhelming, are we hurting them or helping them?
     Scenario time! You are in activities after school that take up several of your evenings,
and by the time you get home, you are ready to hit the sack, but you can’t. You need to do
your homework. Even though it is ten-thirty at night, you hit the books. You can hardly keep
your eyes open, but yet you know you must get it done. By the time you are finished it is nearly midnight and you barely make it to your bed before falling asleep. You get up the next morning, but you are barely awake. You drudge through the long day, not paying attention in any classes because you keep falling asleep. That evening you decide to skip your homework because you need to sleep for your mind to function.
     Now if you think about it. You will not succeed in school either way because a) you will
either always be so tired you can’t function, or b) You will end up skipping your homework to sleep. Many people would now say this is where weekends come into play. That is partially true, but shouldn’t we be allowed to spend time with our family or hang out with our friends?
     Maybe it’s just this generation because we are taught to take on too much. Everyone
is always busy and so we just follow their example. Some people can deal with it just fine, but others have to exclude some of their favorite activities because there is just not enough time in a day when you sit in a school building for eight hours.
     That is why I believe a shorter school day would make students less stressed. I think
students would, overall, do better in the academic field. Personally, I would be willing to extend the school year slightly in order to have shorter school days.
     I know the possibilities of this happening are slim, but shorter school days would
increase the effort put into school. It would ultimately allow children to have the time to put onehundred percent in every subject in school.