All high school students know the daily struggle: Getting up ridiculously early to get to school on time, keeping up with so many assignments, getting picture-perfect grades, and developing into mature young adults. We could really use a break. So why don’t we have a free period to relax and maybe even sleep during our school day?
I mean, preschool and kindergarten students have this, so why don’t we? I’ve heard of some high schools that use free periods and the students always report a positive experience. This could be the same for us Paint Branch students and throughout MCPS.
The biggest issue many teens have is sleep deprivation. Reasons for this abound, including constant homework, endless hours of studying, and phone use. An article by Better Health Channel, managed by the Department of Health in Victoria, Australia titled “Teenagers and sleep” discusses a whole list of reasons why teens are so sleep deprived; including their hectic after-school schedules filled with homework, sports, and/or part-time jobs, exposure to light, use of screen-based devices, and sleeping disorders like restless legs syndrome and sleep apnoea. This wide array of reasons means that sleep deprivation is, in fact, caused by phones and homework, but it could also have to do with their personal lives.
An article by Sarah D. Sparks at Education Week talks about a study by the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience that split up a group of adolescents and monitored their sleep schedules. For two weeks, one group slept for six hours. The other group slept for five hours and got to take a one-hour nap at two o’ clock pm. The study showed that the second group performed better at memorizing photos and information than the first group because this power nap allowed them to be “more focused, alert, and motivated in the afternoons.”
A group of student-journalists at Wilde Lake High School wrote about some students’ experiences with a free period at their respective schools. One student at Notre Dame Preparatory School, a private school, spoke of her experience with having a free period: “It gives me a mental break and an opportunity to catch up on work.” Another student, who attends private Loyola Blakefield High School, stated, “They give us a chance to do homework, study, or relax, and escape the grind of our normal classes.” While these two high school students both attend private schools, which often have more flexibility in scheduling, their experiences with free periods shows that the time allows students to catch up on missing work and even just relax and take a break during their long, stressful day.
Fernanda Molina, a Meridian High School journalist, writes about a school in New Mexico that uses nap pods, which are “egg-shaped lounge chairs that recline and play classical music.” Molina notes that the students use these chairs to sleep or just zone out and not think about school. Students don’t often get a chance to get their heads straight, so these nap pods are a great idea and would be really beneficial for any high school student.
Aaron Widjaja, a writer for The Coat of Arms, the school newspaper at the private Menlo School, makes a perfect point in his article about the school’s free periods. Widjaja notes that free periods give students time to do many things, including a chance to do their hobbies. He writes, “If you’re struggling to find time and energy for your passions, you can allocate your time accordingly to get work done with a free block. Compared to a noisy classroom environment, having a free period allows you to separate yourself from distractions and focus.” While it is common to see tired students throughout the day who would nap during free time, there are also many who would use the opportunity to do other things, like the hobbies he notes. The key is that free periods provide a nice, quiet environment to do with what you want.
One final reason that speaks to the importance of free periods of time in students’ days is participation. Many students choose not to participate in class because they don’t often like the idea of talking to others in person. A writer for Edficiency named Jason Bacon wrote an article titled “19 Benefits of Flex Periods in Schools” where he lists important benefits like increased attendance and engagement. Students were “more engaged when they have the support needed to understand the daily objective in class or get more excited about an enrichment activity they can take on a topic of interest or even just time to decompress or talk to their friends.” These periods were really helpful because they allowed students to come out of their shells and become more successful in their classes and their social lives.
As you can see, there are lots of pros to having a free period in high schools. Whether the time is to develop more motivation in students, give them time to rest, zone out, study, catch up on missing work, or just take a mental break from their long day, students can become more successful in school and they can grow stronger every day. Paint Branch already has the Zen Den that acts as a place to relax during lunch, but it would definitely be nice to have something like it included in our daily schedules.
