Starting First Week Back on a Thursday Saves Students!

After a short summer, some students start school on a Thursday while others start on Monday. Is it just me or is that not fair?

Most of the time, schools have orientations or introduction assemblies that take up at least 2-3 days, in middle school at least. Monday-Wednesday for my school was solely this type of engagement.

Imagine this, waking up on a Monday morning at 6:30 to go to school while other kids are able to sleep in for another 2-4 days. Instead of cozying up with your favorite stuffies until noon, enjoying the leisures of life, your school wakes you up from the summer of your dreams and sends you back to a world of dread.Your friends have a half week for your first week of school, but you have to go for a full 5 days. Is it just me… or should this not be a thing for anybody? 

1. We just had summer and nobody wants to go back to school (except some people…)

If you think about it, one week it’s summer, a glorious summer with a pool, the beach, and snoozing your alarm. But right as the next week begins, it’s back to waking up at 6:30 and not being able to snooze like every other day. Instead you’re forced to get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to learn and receive homework for another 10 months; it’s like summer never happened!

The funniest thing is that there is at least one kid who anticipates the joys of school–and is first to every period–and I think that we all know who that is because honestly, who doesn’t?! Every. Single. Year. Shauna Anderson, who is a mother of an 8-year-old boy, knew a wonder child who was called Harry. “Harry is the kid who is good at everything. He wins everything. First in swimming. Won cross-country. Beat the other kids by a mile at athletics.” As you can see, Harry is that “erm actually” kid at school who will correct you on everything. Like if you say Arkansas the way it is actually spelled instead of saying “Arkansaw” he will correct you on your err and say something like, “actually. It’s ARKANSAW.” Of course no hard feelings because it makes school a lot better when there is something to joke around about. However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that we still have to attend school right after summer break. So if you have a Harry at your school, tell him to keep up the jokes but not the energy about school. 

2. It’s hard to adjust to how early we have to wake up compared to sleeping in all summer

No one can deny this, not even the teachers or staff. We had all slammed the snooze button until 12pm because it was summer. Now we have to wake up basically 6 hours earlier to go and learn, which is important, but why so early in the morning all of a sudden? 

If they start us off easy during the beginning of the school year we probably will not burn out as fast… right?

However, if they let us start off school with half a week, we can adjust slowly and be ready during the second week, or the first full week, fully prepared for school. Then we don’t need to feel the dread overcome us for a whole week. 

Even the University of Utah’s Health Department is on our side. “Getting enough sleep is hard for a teen whose natural sleep cycle makes it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11 p.m. and who faces a first-period class at 7:30 or earlier the next day.” 

3. If the first week is full of introductions and orientations, have those later in the week and start learning the week after

If your school has as many orientations, set ups, and introductions as I do then you will have to agree. 

Most of the time, schools have orientations or introduction assemblies that take up at least 2-3 days, in middle school at least. Monday-Wednesday for my school was solely this type of engagement. So if instead they start school on a Wednesday or Thursday, the first “week” can be orientations, and the second week (first full week) can be the time where we actually learn! 

This will be much easier for students to adjust from the summer, getting back to school, and finally to going back to their normal routines without making our new sleeping schedules painful.

4. Later in the week or later in the day?

So, you asked your school, and your plan crashed and burned, hard. If you’re willing there’s one last thing that you can do and it doesn't involve bribing them. 

On your last attempt, ask if you could at least have the first week or few days start later in the morning. Honestly, if I were a principal, I would say yes, especially if you act innocent and helpless with cute puppy dog eyes. It’s not like we’re asking for school to be shut down, we’re asking them to make school easier for us, them, and the teachers. So it’s a win, win, win! 

This could be very helpful for your fellow couch potatoes to gradually wake up early for school instead of sleeping in until noon. School days could be shorter and more relaxing compared to basically being woken up with “ice cold water”. Accepting this will make sure to not complicate the events that will happen at school either way. 

5. No choice?

However, if your school still doesn’t agree, I don’t know what to say to you. Keep trying, but it looks like your school is happy with its schedules and life isn’t always easy, so you’ll have to deal with it.

On a final note, I just want to say good luck to anyone who is still struggling with adjusting to school or just having tests and quizzes back to back. I don’t know anything about high school, but if you guys have any questions about middle school let me know and I’ll try to answer them! 

If there are any tips that you guys think I should write about please comment on this article or on my blog!