Early Bird vs. Night Owl by Katarina

Early Bird vs. Night Owl by Katarina - January 2019 Scholarship Essay

I believe that everyone is naturally a morning person, but school teaches people to act as night owls. Attending school may require students to wake up earlier and be active earlier than they would normally, but their level of intellectual productivity doesn’t increase until later in the day. In many classes; showing up, staying the entire class period, and getting the homework due the next class period is all students have to do to pass. There isn’t a lot of thinking or time to be productive because the teachers are automatically doing more than the students. They wait until they get home to do their chores, attend any extracurricular activities, and work on their homework. School doesn’t allow for students to be productive during seven hours of their day because their schedules don’t allow for it. It also can force many students to become more productive after the sun goes down. The average time recommended to complete a single Advanced Placement class’ homework is an hour, but most students don’t only take one class. A normal class recommends approximately twenty to thirty minutes for their homework assignments every afternoon. If a student takes six normal classes and one AP course they will likely spend three hours minimum on homework each afternoon. However, this assumes that student is only taking one difficult class when most students taking AP courses plan to take multiple in order to help their GPA or get a few college courses out of the way early. Just changing a student’s schedule to have five normal classes and two AP courses adds another half hour of work spent on homework each afternoon. And this doesn’t include the other things that student will have to do when they get home.
After taking away the seven hours a student spends at school, minimum of three hours spent on classes, and the eight they need to get a proper amount of sleep there are six hours left in their free time. All students spend some of their time eating, and many also spend time doing chores. Assuming breakfast and dinner take approximately an hour total their time is taken down to five hours. Every living space requires upkeep and one person often can’t keep up with all of the requirements for maintaining a clean residence. Therefore, many parents give their kids chores to do that will help lighten their own workload. There are different types of chores every student does, but if a student spends about an hour on chores four hours are left for any extracurriculars or time with friends. Many students find difficulty in keeping all of the extra things they want to do within those four hours, and usually sleep is the first thing to lose time. I personally put a lot of pressure on myself to get good grades and that usually means I spend a few hours on homework each night alone. I’m also in two high school bands, a internship program, and four AP classes. I do all of these things to help increase my chances of getting into college. I want to minor in music, so I’m getting a lot of experience in music. My AP classes are for getting ahead in my future degree, and I intern at the college I plan on attending. This leaves at least one night that I spend up later than I should. I’m a night owl because I’m in the habit of doing a lot of my homework when I get home after dark. In the morning I find it very difficult to wake up, but I also find I feel better waking up in the summer because I get to bed sooner. I believe everyone is meant to be morning people because it’s how our bodies function. Most people drink coffee in the morning to make it easier, but by the afternoon they’re wide awake and more productive. Because of school, most people are changed from morning people to night owls unknowingly.