After a summer full of vacations or just staying at home comes the dreaded thought of returning to school. Whether it be you're going to a new school, starting high school or just entering into the next level of high school, everyone dreads the first day. In eighth grade when most schools are getting you prepared for high school, they talk about a balanced schedule. A balanced schedule contains about two electives, a few honors classes, one of two on-level classes and maybe one AP class. Counselors stress the need for a balanced schedule not taking into account band, chorus, theater or any sports that student might play. These after- school activities often take up a lot of time that could be being used for homework or extra studying.

As a sophomore in high school, I've already heard the whole deal of balanced schedules and constantly ignored it. I am in drumline, as well as taking all honors and AP classes. This means I am generally not home for long enough time to eat dinner, do homework, study and have a normal sleep schedule. This also doesn't include any recreational time that can be used to de-stress or hang out with friends. Most high school students do not have a normal sleep schedule of at least eight hours of sleep. This is mainly due to a large amount of homework given from each class. Depending on the level of math, students could have 30 minutes to an hour and 30 minutes worth of homework. Science can take from 20 minutes to about two hours depending on the homework, whether that is to just study, do a worksheet or finish a post-lab. Literature often requires students to read certain pages or chapters in a book as their homework; this class is also the class that assigns the most out-of-class projects leading to weekends spent on it. So here comes the impending question, is there truly a balanced schedule?

No matter what level of class you are taking whether it be on-level, honors or AP, each class has a certain amount of homework to be completed that night for the next day. Although on-level classes might not have as much, seven classes worth of work along with any after school activities can lead to not a lot of downtime. The same can be said especially for honors and AP classes. In fact, most honors or AP students participate in an afterschool activity, since many colleges would like to see well-rounded students.

Truthfully, there really is no such thing as a balanced schedule due to the fact that students take seven classes a day, five days a week. Some students also take afterschool activities that can take up valuable work time, such as band, sports, theater or any clubs. The question remains: is there an actual balanced schedule, or will students schedules get more hectic as college expectations increase over the years?