When my alarm goes off, morning after morning, month after month, I start to dread the continuous cycle that is a school week. However, if we were to implement a four day school week with no school on Wednesdays, this cycle would be broken, benefitting both students and teachers.

If we were to have school off on Wednesdays, not only would teachers be able to catch up on grading, but students could catch up on schoolwork and get ahead for the end of the week. An extra day off would benefit the mental health of the thousands of overwhelmed students that go through the same demanding daily routine.  

We could simply add a little more than an hour to each school day to make up for the missed time. Getting out at 3:15 p.m. would not be remarkably different than leaving at 2:15 p.m.

This would break up the week into two-day increments, which is much more balanced than five days of school with only two days off.

As a junior in high school, I understand how stressful school is. My workload is never-ending and seems to somehow increase every day, despite my efforts to chip away at it. After years of crushing amounts of daily schoolwork, students need to step back and enjoy life. Eliminating Wednesday as a school day would speed up the work week and give students something to look forward to.

Students know the work they need to accomplish in a week and would be able to prioritize work and relaxation according to their schedule with the additional day off. Should they face a couple of important assignments due Tuesday, they could take the time to rest and reboot as they prepare for Thursday and Friday. Or, if they have more work due later in the week, having a full day to get ahead would be extremely helpful.

Students like myself who have so much homework during the school week would be even more productive if we had a day off to rest.