Avery+C.

=...SLEEP... =

 I wake up at 6:00, go to school for seven and a half hours, return home at 4:30 to 5:00, do homework from 5:00 to anywhere from 10:00 to 2:00. High school students across the United States are constantly suffering from sleep deprivation. We receive an average of five to seven hours of sleep a night. Studies show that the modern teenager needs eight to nine hours of sleep a night. Realistically, how is there ever going to be enough time for homework, sports, extra curricular activities, and nine hours of sleep every night? The twenty-four hours in our day just simply do not suffice.

What effect do these missing hours have on a typical school day? We are exhausted, unfocused, and lack the desire to pertain any of the information we are taught in one academic session. The weekdays are constant struggles to remain functional in order to retain the grade point average that we have all worked so hard to attain. Participating in class discussions, taking tests, and writing essays are made increasingly difficult by the sleep deficit.

Yes, I understand why homework is important in mastering the material that is crammed in our brains on a daily basis. It is practical to assume that practice leads to perfection in regards to academic achievement. However, the amount of practice that we are assigned is causing us to lose our suggested minimum of eight hours of sleep. Perhaps if we were assigned fewer hours of homework in the afternoons, we would be focused and ready to learn and pertain information that we learn in the seven classes that are in one day.

Please do not misunderstand this plea for less work. It is not because I am lazy and unwilling to the homework that is assigned to us. However, I do feel like I would be more able and prepared to handle the heavy discussions and rigorous tests if I were to get an adequate amount of sleep the night before. The entire class would hypothetically have more to contribute. The quality of discussion would increase, thinking would become more sophisticated and the value of our education would enlarge if we were able to sleep a satisfactory amount every night.media type="file" key="Op Ed Recording.m4a"

