By Jayden Nguyen
Everyone tends to overlook the power of breaks as the saying “Hard work pays off,” is very popular. However, one thing that is severely underlooked is the power of breaks. That’s not to say be lazy, but hard work deserves a hard reset. This school year is the first in years to not include a designated “break” block; the change in the schedule has negatively affected the students.
Personally, the lack of a break block has affected my clarity of thought as the day goes on; I noticed that by the third period, my brain is very fogged up. Last year, there was a break between the second and third periods, however this year, there’s a four-period block before a lunch break then, two periods.
Now with a zero period, this gives me a five-period block; with a break, that allows me to grab a snack or my first meal of the day or even a mini-review before a test. Now I have to go through a 5-period block of straight learning before reaching lunch.
Last year with the break included students got out at 3:23 p.m. However, this year the schedule releases students that have a sixth period at 3:08 p.m. Last year all California high schools were mandated to start at 8:30 a.m. due to State Bill 328. The bill was enacted to allow high school students to go through a “natural sleeping schedule.”
Presumably, the new schedule would allow students to sleep from 10:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. In actuality, a problem that has been brought up numerous times by students via quarterly meetings with student representatives and principals of the school is that due to the later release times, students actually end up staying up later anyway. But is going home 20 minutes earlier worth compromising our break?
Although this year there is an earlier release time, a huge problem arises. The most common that I’ve heard from the student body is due to the lack of a break. Last year with the schedule implementing a break between second and third period a majority of students would use this time to grab their breakfast or get necessary nutrients into their system as well as allow their brain to rest.
However this year without the break many students have pushed their first meal of the day to lunch time which is 12:34 p.m. This would mean some students don’t get proper nutrition until after 4 hours of learning time. Without appropriate nutrition, students can’t optimally learn in addition to no break. Students must endure the first 4 hours of a school day without one.
It has been statistically proven that taking breaks on occasion or when necessary. A study by the National Institute of Health has stated “… taking short breaks from practice is a key to learning.” Learning new content for extended periods amount of time without any breaks is detrimental to learning a new skill.
The Simon Fraser University found in another study, that “short time blocks like 1-2 hours at a time (take about a five-minute break)…you’ll likely be able to focus better and remember a greater proportion of what you learned.” For optimal learning, it is, necessary to throw in a few breaks after a period of studying to optimally soak in the new skill.
Without a designated break, students can’t optimally learn new things no matter how gifted they are. The only true benefit of no break is going home earlier; however, It can be contested as to how much 20 minutes is going to change. The lack of breaks comes at the cost of students not getting the proper nutrition in the morning and their brains being pushed to the limits before they finally get a lunch break.
The removal of a break has been very detrimental to students, Barons deserve our break back!
