My name is Alex Wells. I grade 12 student at Prosper High School. I am writing to inform and persuade you to pass on the four day school week. The reason I chose this is because of the fact that one day off for students would result in more rest, which in turn means more focus and mental alertness at school, teachers would get more time to plan test, grade students, book meetings, etc., and students would have more time to pursue their passion and interest which is proven to keep you happy.

One of the main reasons that an extra day off is essential is because it would result in more rest, thus better performance in school because it is proven that less rest lowers academic performance.  A lot of people can agree that grade 12 is not the easiest grade to get through. With tests, other activities(sports, extra curricular etc.) , and around eleven hours spent getting to school and back, how do teachers expect us to be mentally alert in class? Of course us students will be exhausted. Logically speaking, the only harm in having a four day school week would be the fact that do more work during school days because of how cramped they would be. Although this may be a problem, the extra day would allow for teachers and students to get work done, and that easily cancels out the harm in having a four-day school week. With more rest, there will be more more alertness, and more attendance according to Monica Pham in the Math Department at Prosper High School. The quality is more important than quantity and this is especially true for academics, ad things that require the mind. In order to achieve this, the four-day school week must be passed.

Teachers would also benefit from this because they would get  more time to do work and catch up on things they need to do. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, teachers would have more work to do, and I agree. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Although teachers have more work to do during school hours, because they have to teach more content, they have an extra day to cover any meetings, gradings, etc. This makes covering just a little bit of extra content way easier because of the fact that the major work( grading, meetings, etc.) is done. A lot of times, teachers need a third day off too because they more likely than not have other things in their life. They have a family, a hobby maybe, or even just the desire to relax and step-back. The only way to give this to them consistently(unlike 2 months once a year) is to give them a third day off so they can get that sense of mental clarity, and peace, and happiness. 

The final reason is that having a third day off will make students happy, but not in the way you might think. Having a third day off would result in more rest, which would in turn improve mood. “Sleep deprivation can cause effects to emotion.” -as said in the Academic journal-which isn’t always a good thing. It is proven by science that a long term lack of sleep can lead to depression, and one day of sleep deprivation alone can cause more reactivity to negative stimuli. One of the main things that society is trying to prevent and raise awareness around is depression  It is no false thing that you can snap out of. It is a downward spiral, and is very hard to get out of. It would be a question of morality if the school board is willing to take risks with the mental health of students for academic purposes. The right thing to do is to give a four day school week so that children are less likely to fall into depression and other mental illnesses even if it does reduce academic performance(which it likely won’t-check paragraph one-), the mental health of students is more important than their grades.

My reasons for passing the four-week school week are so that children perform better in school due to more rest, teachers and students get more work done AND have more time to themselves, and most importantly the mental health of students remains stable and unshattered due to the release of academic pressure and sleep deprivation due to school.