In a random class during the school day, students are in the middle of a lesson or some educational video. Roughly five minutes in, heads start to drop, and before you know it numerous students are fast asleep. Why? Is it because the lesson being taught is incredibly boring? Maybe. What if there’s another possible reason why this happens though? What if it’s because we have to be at school too early?

In my opinion, school should begin at at least 9:00 AM, instead of 8. Students are clearly exhausted when they arrive at school, so much that they fill themselves with sugar and caffeine. Some of these students have even reached the extreme of having to store things in their lockers to make it through the day. I myself have experienced at least coming incredibly close to falling asleep in the middle of the day, which is something that could’ve potentially been prevented if I’d had that extra hour of sleep.

One argument that could be used against this proposal is the fact that students have to stay until four, though a lot of students have work they have to get to. Well, yes, maybe, but what if you didn’t necessarily have to? A number of students who attend NUHS will be graduating with more credits than required. So, they clearly shouldn’t have to spend that extra hour a day getting that credit they don’t actually need. Therefore, that 3-4 period could be used as an optional time, instead of required. Instead of having credit recovery during part of their lunch period, students who are behind on credits could use that whole hour to work on catching up. If they have to work though, they could still have the option to put some work in during the first half of the lunch period, but as long as they put some progress in for the day, it shouldn’t matter.