When I look back on the days when I was in elementary school, I only recall how much joy I found in waking up to get on the big, yellow bus every morning. There was always something to look forward to: music class, seeing my friends, recess, and learning something new. 

The more I think about it though, the more I realize that only one word made it interesting—new. 

 When you are seven years old, there is so much to learn about; it feels like there is an infinite amount of information to carve into your brain. But when you are seven years old, there is not very much information taking up space in your brain. 

As upperclassmen, we reach a point where everything repeats itself; each class causes déjà vu for many students. There is only so much that students can learn in school that high school begins to feel like a more in-depth version of elementary school. 

It makes me wonder, is school too long?

When I ask this, I do not mean the day itself. I believe the length of the school day is one of the few things schools truly prepares its students for — it mirrors everything there is to do when it comes to having a typical nine-to-five job. 

My intentions behind the question rely simply on the number of years we are in school. 

Perhaps, it dates back hundreds of years ago when one classroom contained every student of every age, or, perhaps, the school system simply underestimates its students. 

It just feels as if you do not learn anything new by your junior year of high school. 

All of my history classes have only caused me to relearn each lesson that I learned five years ago. There is always the excuse that history is being made as we speak, yet that new history doesn’t officially become history because schools do not change the criteria of classes.

Math only elaborates on the simple addition and subtraction problems we learned in second grade with variables involved. 

English takes all the grammar lessons from fifth grade and combines them into one lesson. 

Science can have some credit. It feels like the only classes that truly taught me something new up until my sophomore year. But even science classes still repeat lessons. 

All of this repetition only makes school feel like an archeological dig at the back of my brain. 

Once I finally find the lesson and remember all that I learned, I also find the ability to tune teachers out. I no longer feel the need to listen.

It makes each “assignment” feel more like busywork. 

Many schools assume students are not engaged because they are simply tired of book work, but the problem mainly lies in boredom. If a lesson is taught to students six or seven times, they will stop caring about it. 

School only becomes more exciting in college because students get the chance to dive into a subject they get to choose; they care about what they are learning. However, a copious amount of students choose not to go to college because, initially, they found school boring. 

Maybe the possible solution to this quandary is, to put it simply, to start college earlier.

The question does come up about whether, let’s say, a sixteen-year-old is ready for college; there’s a lot to think about. But this is only due to the fact that students are not forced to cross that bridge that early in their lives. 

I believe students have the chance to grow and enjoy school more if busywork steps out of the picture and lets productivity take its place.