Four-Day School Week

Dislike Mondays like the majority of the people? Do you think a day off would be beneficial? Just looking at data tables there has been an increase in districts approving the 4 day school week all starting from 2000-2018 and still talking about it today here in Colorado (Coloradoan).

Stress is a pain, isn't it? Well, this will serve you well with an extra day of taking it to chill and wrapping up some work. Yes, this can get worse over time because of extracurricular activities, but if you think about it you’ll have a full day to be interactive with the society which includes family, friends, etc. Not only are there people that procrastinate for hours at home, but this is also what is time-consuming. Just getting straight to work will be and is the most effective strategy. We know, everyone does this every once in a while, but when your targeting to get something accomplished you just can’t take that step back, attack it instead and get to an end point.

Yes, some schools do increase the school time by an hour so for Poudre High School we’ll get out at around 4:30 or so instead of the regular time which is 3:10. There is a chance that we curve around this by waking up earlier by changing the school time, or just be willing/accepting enough to sleep later; to be considerate with everyone this will most likely be the case, and students would wrap up their homework on that Monday off. While some people believe the traditional school schedule is fine, through controversy and change, the shift would have Colorado or the Poudre School District a lot more money for future educational purposes, etc.

First off we must take a look at a recent study of statistics that were gathered which concluded that Brighton School District 27J serves 18,000 students and there is 100 Colorado public school districts that are trying to get the 4 day school week operated into their district to cut costs (Coloradoan). Dropping the Monday is already helping the districts save an average of $12,526 per student (Education Week). This can definitely benefit school gymnasiums, teaching material, and students surroundings. A confusing factor to the 4 day school week is that it is said that fewer discipline referrals for students are affecting students by 73% because they are more relaxed and in the zone, because they are more rested, which led to a fewer amount of equated classroom disruptions (Vittana).

Less school bullying, fights, and profanity will be minor to a certain extent. On the positive side there will most likely be more students that are more consistent turning in homework assignments, also more study time on the Monday off to go over notes and homework to get ready for a quiz or test. Furthermore, over a course of 2 years with this alternative schedule, it was announced that there was an increase in attendance, it was increased by 20% (Vittana).

Like mentioned before students will most likely have more time to know class material, and won’t fall back as much as in the 5 day school week. In addition from students having better attendance, student SAT scores increased by a good 60 or so points which are not bad at all. Before there was a range of scores between 840-1100 and when the change came scores started to range from 900-1060. From 840 to 900 isn't to crappy, the only thing is that with the full schedule few students did tend to score up higher to 1100 and during the 4 day schedule there was an increase in the minimum score but the highest scores weren’t as high as the highest scores from district when they had a full schedule. Through deeper insight, the controversy about school days would be beneficial to students that are older, not really to kids that are enrolled in middle school and under. As fitting as it’ll be for students in high school, the younger students would most likely feel left out from the day off.

This may sound bizarre but in Brighton District 27J the students in middle schools and in high schools start and end at the same time in the morning and in the afternoon. These schools start class at 8:30 AM and end at 4:32 PM (SD27J, 4 Day School Guide). As unnecessary it is for preschoolers and kindergartners they also have a 4 day school week!

As an IB Poudre High School student myself this would be highly fitting because there would be an extra day off for me to get some rest other than feeling stressed and rushed to finish assignments. This sounds great and all, but I am part of the PHS boys basketball team and it’s a struggle to keep up with class material, homework, and being a team player because everything gets in my head. It’s rough, student-athletes can relate!

Talking in the perspective of a more trustworthy person, principal of Stuart Middle School mentioned, “I hope we realize education needs to be better funded.” Not only is there an extra day off, but it’s helping out school districts to cut costs. This helps out the school by making it look more welcoming, academically superior, and admirable for recent and incoming students that attend the school. Although having this day off sounds like a great opportunity to take as a student, there is controversy going around about school extension each day by an hour from the 4 day school week. Which will, later on, lead to holiday date changes, and it eliminates early release from school and late starts.

Sadly everyone does enjoy their breaks from school, but this will also affect the days we have in the summer. Everyone enjoys summer and many people would rather just prefer having a full schedule than the 4-day schedule. Usually, it’ll be 180 school days that we as students attend in a year at school, with the 4 day school week that will be a condensed to 145 days that students will attend in the year. With the extension of an hour each day that condenses lectures given in class; it does sound like it helps but it actually, is making it a shorter period of time for students to learn the material that’s expected in the year. Parents are getting used to it to a 5-day work plan for the week and it’s a hard thing to change and adapt to working 4 days a week. Parents may argue that change wouldn’t be necessary because it can be problematic for their children's transportation, daycare, and most importantly it will cause more of a challenge for their sons/daughters to keep up with school lectures and tasks from this change. Sadly this can ruin students near future or even a parent's dominance in their job. It falls outside the normal parent work schedule which is 8 hours a day in a period of 5 days in the week. To further add from the chaotic factors that the changes in the school week bring; it’s mostly only applicable to the smaller school districts. It’s not really to fitting for the larger school district based communities.

“In Colorado, 31 of the state’s 176 school districts are currently using the 4 day school week”(Vittana). “These school districts are typically in isolated regions, are rural, and have a student body that is fewer than 500 students”(Vittana). This is making more and more parents, teachers, and administrators put more effort into doing all tasks in the 4 day school week which makes most adults want the 5 day school week back in return if the 4 day school week was implemented.

To finalize my insight over the topic of the 5 day school week changing and get used to a 4 day school week continues to keep my mindset straight in the middle from changing and keeping it the same. It’s one way or another, with a 4 day school week I would have a harder time getting homework assignments while playing for the basketball team. Not to mention but I already struggle but I do get the job done. Also, it would be a mess for my parents to get a consistent work schedule because like the majority their parents prefer working early in the morning and getting the rest needed in the afternoon, and maybe watch one of their sons/daughters game (basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball, wrestling, football, etc).

With a full schedule, I like getting out of school at 3:10 because it means I have a good amount of time to finish homework and recharge energy after my basketball practices. It is a great idea though because Colorado is one of the lowest paid states, saving money from the different system does help out districts in the long run. There are the downsides, and there is also is there benefits to this.

Thank you for your time, I highly appreciate the amount of time that you took to look over my letter. The topic expanded my knowledge and taught me whether or not it’ll be effective to have a 4 day school week instead of a full schedule. Mostly, when the opposition almost at the end of the letter, made me notice that I had never thought about changing my views on the topic and continues to make me think differently. I hope this inspires you or others to possibly make changes, and if it’s not changed that is completely fine because I am leaning back and forward the more this topic comes into mind, and the more it is brought up. 

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