School - 1.0

"Ah yes, school. The hell of all teenagers and the bane of my existence."

The Narrator looked quite pissed off. His angry gaze at the index card really emphasized his hate for the topic. 

He sighed. "Let's just get started. Also this will probably sound like just a large rant, but it was on my mind today so..."

School. So many problems with school. Unfortunately, I live in America. School is quite problematic in America. 

Issue #1 - Sleep

Man, I love sleep. It's like my second most favorite thing in the world. And, in addition to that, it cleanses the brain and keeps us healthy. So, it's no surprise that of course, school ruins it.

I don't know about people outside of the U.S, but in my school I wake up at 6:40 a.m every day for school. It's ridiculous! School starts 7:30, and ends at 2:05 with an extra help period ending at 2:35. However, I joined the track team, and most sports end at around 5:00 to 5:30. So, from 7:30 to 5:30, around 10 hours of my day are spent at school. Leaving around 4-5 hours for homework, leisure, dinner, etc. 

Yeah, it's barely possible. All you have to do is pray that your teachers don't give you homework. I have around 5 main classes that give homework. The amount really varies depending on the teacher, so it's around 10 minutes at the very least, or around an hour and a half for the max. 

It's brutal. The burnout is real. I feel it and pain is NOT an illusion. 

So homework totals around at least two hours. At the least. Usually, we get more, and so our time to do anything productive, like, say for example...writing is basically nonexistent. 

Unless...we stay up late.

See, students have found a revolutionary idea that if you stay up late, you can actually finish your homework. Genius, right?

Ignore the fact that you're destroying your mental, physical and emotional health at the same time, and it's all good! You can get your homework done in time AND do literally anything else, it's awesome!

Yeah, no wonder I'm always tired all the time.

It's weird though, because I vividly remember in elementary school waking up EXTRA early, like around...5:00. Yeah, I regret every single decision of my life, but what's interesting is that a lot of other kids in my class did the same. So, the answer is simple, right? Switch the elementary school and middle/high school starting times and problem solved!

Unfortunately, America is crazy about...drumroll please...sports!

We can't fit sports if we end school at 4:00, it's be too late! So, we start it at 3:00 and end it at 5:00. Of course. 

And that leads into Issue #2 - System.

How our school works is: you go to your periods 1-9, all around 41 minutes long with 4 minutes in between to get to classes or take a piss, and then 10th period, 30 minutes long, for extra help or waiting for sports.

Now, a while back, apparently there was a different design that would make so much more sense: a block schedule. 

It basically replaces the 44 minute periods into 90/120 minute periods and each class would meet every other day.

Why would this be helpful?

- More time for homework

- School starts later thanks to less periods while still having time for sports

- My mental health wouldn't be deteriorated

- It prepares us for college.

Colleges basically have the same kind of structure of classes: long stretches of time for working while meeting a few times a week. So, if we had these in high school, it'd actually prepare us for college instead of...actually I can't think of anything they do to prepare for college. Maybe one or two days of instructional meetings at the most, so...

Anyways, with that and the additional benefits, it's just a no-brainer. It's so obvious, and yet...it's not here. 

Why?

Teachers.

(A/N: Ew)