The average school day in the U.S is 6.64 hours. This may not seem very long, but considering that students must sit quietly in chairs for most of those hours, it’s no surprise that many people think it should be shortened. Students shouldn’t be at school for more than 5 hours a day.

The longer students are at school, the more stressful it becomes. School environments aren’t comfortable which can induce stress. When students are constantly doing work and getting work assigned, all of it stacks up and life becomes very tense. Students shouldn’t have to feel stressed everyday especially at such a young age. This can cause many negative effects like stress and sleep deprivation.

Doing something like watching tv or taking a nap after school is a great way to relax and end the day but for many students, they don’t have time to relax. When they have homework and have to go to sleep earlier for school, there is no time left for themselves. Sometimes, students do homework instead of sleeping. Teenagers need at least eight hours of sleep to function properly, but that can’t be achieved when they aren’t given enough time for it.

When students are at school all day, it leaves them with less time to explore opportunities for self improvement, like getting a job. Feeling discouraged is never good and being behind in life goals can make students feel disappointed in themselves. Falling behind can possibly cause students to be more prone to issues in their future.

For the mental and physical health of students, school days should be shorter. For some schools like Mcneil, if school days were an average of five hours, there would be enough time for every class period to be an hour, which is still enough time to get everything done. It also leaves time for lunch and another break during the day. The shortening of school days would also give students more time for themselves at home.