The looming pressure to be both well educated and well rounded lingers in the mind of every high school student.

Days simply do not contain enough time to manage required credits for graduation, AP classes, extracurriculars, volunteer hours, mountains of grueling homework, college applications, and a job, to impress college admissions. Despite all these conflicts, there is a pragmatic solution to this overwhelming dilemma. Making a miniscule and manageable manipulation to a teen’s schedule will allow them to balance classes, extracurriculars, and social lives.

I humbly propose a twenty-four hour school day, as the simplest, and most sensible solution to allow students the time for all they must accomplish.

A twenty-four hour school day is not an unwise choice for those students who constantly face the College Board over their shoulders, whispering in their ears to fill their schedule with classes. Without AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, and AP Environmental Science how can one even consider becoming a scientist? The classes students take in high school determine the rest of their life, so it is only necessary that twenty four hours of schooling are provided to take the necessary amount of courses.

A college transcript without extracurriculars is comical, for colleges demand students who are involved. A fall, winter, and spring sport, theater, band, choir, math team, newspaper, student council, and NHS, is the minimum amount of activities to fit this expectation. With a twenty-four hour school day, students can utilize a reasonable fourteen to sixteen hours for classes, and the rest for developing a well rounded high school career.

With a majority of time spent on school and activities, students will no longer feel the unbearable, oppressive weight of a social life on their shoulders. Occupying an entire day at school will allow teens to interact with their peers, while simultaneously increasing productivity. Students will also save a significant amount of money on gas, food, and entertainment, as they will be no longer required to hang out with friends on their downtime. A twenty-four hour school day will eliminate social lives, an unnecessary aspect of life impossible to fit into the busy schedule of a teen.

Skeptics may argue that twenty-four hour schooling will not allow students the proper amount of sleep. I can assure you that sleeping is what weekends were created for, and that Saturdays and Sundays are plenty of time for students to catch up on their shut eye. In fact, finishing all school work during the week will prevent students from pulling all nighters, struggling to finish their homework at all hours of their free time.

A full school day will yield many benefits. With the skyrocket in sales of coffee and energy drinks, the economy will experience a significant boost. Twenty-four hours also allows more time to cram in classes to graduate, condensing high school into three years, and allowing more and more students to be forced into the adult world younger and younger.

Previous proposals for this ongoing crisis are bound to fail our teens, and the future of America. Dropping an extra, unnecessary, class to relieve stress and enjoy being a kid, or allowing free time from studies to develop one’s passions will only lead to an unsuccessful life. A twenty four hour hour school day is the obvious solution to a teen’s busy schedule. Longer school days provide more time for classes and extracurriculars, and eliminate the suffocating stress of a social life, as well as boost the economy, eliminate all nighters, and improve the overall health, wellness, and productivity of teens.

As a school administrator, who does not experience the insufferable pressures to be perfect and succeed, I believe this is the most obvious and pragmatic proposal.

This piece, originally an AP Language & Composition satirical essay, has been adapted for Wolf Prints.