BY DANIEL BLACK

I’m new to the school and unfamiliar with the 4-day week schedule, because we never had it where I come from. I came to Kansas City moving away from Las Vegas where we have the regular 5-day week schedule.

My family recently moved to Independence which is my first experience with the 4-day week schedule. I saw it as luck and a coincidence, and I was very excited to only have school for 4 days a week. One huge difference was the hours. Since Las Vegas is on west coast time everything currently feels shifted by about two hours.  I usually wake up at 5 AM here, but it feels like 3 AM to me. So whatever time it is here Vegas is always 2 hours behind our clock. This creates a massive schedule shift for me that’s been a little difficult to adjust to. 

For example, in Vegas I wake up at 5 AM; go to the bus by 6 AM and get out of school around 1:10 which is about 7 hours. School itself went from 7:00 am to a little after one. The difference is almost two hours of extra school compared to Las Vegas. And while having an extra day off can help it’s still an adjustment.

In my opinion It kind of feels no different from your average 5-day week, and in fact some people prefer the 5-day week. I think the 4-day week has positives because it could help me feel less stressed, and it gets rid of the normal tiredness that comes along with a Monday. 

I decided to look into this new 4-day week schedule to see how students here like it, and most students tended to come down in favor of it versus the more traditional 5-day week. However, many of the students did believe school could benefit from cutting down on the hours of attendance per day.

The few students who preferred the longer school week in terms of days cited the less hours per day as their reasoning behind preferring the 5-day week. I personally think the 5-day week is more beneficial if you are an athlete, and the 4-day week is more beneficial for missing work, trying to get caught up, and giving staff and students a break. So, there are positives and negatives to both options.

The 5-day week we have used for decades is honestly draining in my opinion. Having that extra day to recharge allows me to feel refreshed. Some people like the benefits of a more standardized sleep routine provided by the traditional schedule, but I often found myself so drained from the grind that I struggled to finish missing work.

When presented an alternative option of 6 classes and a 4-day week many students seemed to think that would be a good idea. There are many school districts out there that only require 6 classes instead of 8 classes, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility to consider that alternative. However, the majority of students I discussed the issue with would still take Mondays off over a shortened school day but having to attend five days per week.

 Even though the school hours are a little weird for me it’s something I’m going to have to get used to. Because in the end the pros outweigh the cons. I enjoy having Mondays off, having a little more time to finish work over the weekend, and getting some extra rest even if the school day is a bit longer and there are more classes than I’m used to on a day-to-day basis.

Overall Students are enjoying the new 4-day school week more than the traditional 5-day weekend. The 4-day school week provides students with more time to spend on hobbies, relaxation, and self-care while still meeting academic requirements. In contrast, the 5-day weekend can feel like an endless cycle of homework and studying, leaving little room for downtime. It’s clear that the 4-day school week has made a significant impact on students well-being and overall satisfaction with their school experience.