I always feel unlucky when it comes to getting schedules with my friends. It would be nice to be able to have time during the day to socialize with friends. A small ten minute break for talking to friends would be preferable. Even if you don’t have friends, it could still be nice to have this short break. This break would easily fit right after the third lunch. A break at this time would be right in the middle of the school day.
This time could also be used to catch up on school work for students. But I would personally use it for peer or teacher help with assignments. This time would extend the school day but it would be a break from learning and a stress reliever.
According to the Western Michigan University, “Social interaction improves learning by enhancing their knowledge of literacy…” Talking to other students can help you learn many different things. The school could make it so that there can be a short presentation if someone wants to present some kind of educational topic to the student body during this time. At Manhattan High School you could do the presentation in the Rezac auditorium. Students that do not want to listen to this presentation can go to the lunch room.
According to CCaeduate.me social interaction can help improve mental health. It can help reduce stress which reduces feelings of anxiety and depression. They also say that social skills are very important in a child’s development. With the students in our schools, we all went through a period of time that we did not get to talk to people. Covid affected me and others in their social skills. I know I was more outgoing personally before Covid. I was more open to walk up to anyone and talk to them, but now post Covid, I am more likely to avoid people. A break in the day that students could talk to people would help undo what the Covid pandemic did.
Some people might not want to have a longer school day just to have time to talk to people, but the benefits of a social time outweigh the negative effects of a longer school day. We need to gain the lost social skills from the Covid pandemic.
