There are only 24 hours in a day. Yet somehow, students are expected to attend school, participate in extracurricular, enjoy time with friends, do homework, and barely succeed in getting the vital eight

In addition to spending eight hours a day in the class room, some students have admitted to spending between three and seven hours a day on homework.  Many people also are involved in sports, clubs, music, or drama, which of course, are necessary to become a well-rounded applicant for college.  I cannot count the number of times that I have seen tired, worn down people spouting off the common complaints about being too tired due to long hours of sports and homework.

Ideally, we would be able to get around eight hours of sleep per night, and I have often found myself choosing homework over a social life in order to snatch a few more hours of precious sleep.

Now, squeezing so many activities into the day could, arguably be useful, though painful at times. This tendency to over crowd a daily schedule teaches many teenagers multitasking and time management skills, which are valuable abilities for life and college.

However, not many people succeed in gaining these abilities and, more often than not, school, social life or sleep suffers from lack of attention.  Yet all of these activities are essential to being a successful, healthy individual.

There is no real solution. It is impossible to do everything. As students, we have no influence over how much teachers assign for homework, and absolutely no ability to change the school day. We must choose then, and choose well how to spend our 24 hours.

This depends on the individual. We must learn to know ourselves and our goals for the future. Whether you value a 4.0, a fun high school experience or to excel at sports depends on you. You can’t do everything, so don’t waste your time and energy trying. Instead, choose what is important, and do your best to succeed.