School is something every person can or will be able to relate to. For most, school proves to be a negative experience filled with stress and anxiety. School takes over people’s lives from a very young age and continues to do so until the end of high school or college.
School is a huge responsibility that throws people’s lives off balance. So how can you balance your school life and your normal life?
In high school, normal life can be described as a student’s time to be a kid. A time where there should be no worries or stress and gives students time to embrace their carefree selves. However, they cannot achieve this if their schoolwork butts into their everyday, at-home life.
A study hall or free period is a time when students can do whatever they need to do. Homework tonight? Do it in your free period. Essay due at the end of the week? Chip away at it in your free period. No work at all? Use your free period to relax and clear your hard-working mind.
Without homework, because you did it in your free period, there is less school cutting into your home life, and less stress and anxiety that comes with doing schoolwork at home. A free period can help cut down a student’s huge workload, providing time to do any assignment necessary.
An interview with Pentucket student Nate Martinez, who doesn’t have a study hall, brought to light how students without a study hall feel about their workload. “Yeah, I feel very overworked,” Martinez said. “All of my classes’ homework together adds up to a lot of work to do after school ends.” When faced with the question of a study hall being introduced in his school days, Martinez stated: “I think a study hall would really benefit me. It would give me time to catch up on work or take a break.”
The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students have an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week. This number is equivalent to an entire school day.
Going to school for nearly seven hours every day for five days a week, plus another 6.8 hours of homework is, to put it simply, a lot of work.
The implementation of a study hall can help to cut down the amount of homework every week for students.
A study done by ERIC, an online library of education research and information, found that “The rate before the study (hall) was 8% of homework was not being completed. By the completion of the study hall, 4% of homework was incomplete.”
The introduction of a study hall into students’ school life has the ability to cut the rate of uncompleted homework in half. In addition, ERIC also discovered that “With the guidance of a teacher and the presence of a study hall, students are more inclined to get their homework completed and may therefore increase the students’ understanding.”
While Pentucket High School does offer the option of a study hall, not all students are guaranteed to get one. You may choose a study hall in your course selection, but they fill up quickly, preventing many students from having the option.
If Pentucket implements a study hall or free period into every student’s school day, the amount of uncompleted homework and overall stress and anxiety will prominently decrease.
