It’s 2 a.m. Ayanna Beckett is cramming for tomorrow’s APUSH test. As she looks at her study guide, her right hand hits random keys in an attempt to type while in her left hand, she holds a cup of coffee. She is now working on her homework after hours of extracurricular activities and SAT prep, which she does daily.  

This is an extreme example to some, but students around the country face increasing academic pressure, leading to this workload pressure cooker. It’s no secret that college acceptance rates have plummeted recently, and high schoolers have been trying to keep up by bolstering their workload. 

According to CollegeVine, Harvard’s acceptance rate fell from 14-16% in 1985 to just 3.2% in 2025. The number of expected extracurricular activities has also climbed to new heights, putting increased pressure on students. This is exemplified by the site Prepscholar, which recommends that students take five to six extracurriculars throughout their high school career.

While these extracurricular expectations have increased, the time in a given day hasn’t. With all these jarring statistics, many kids don’t have enough time to do their work. To remedy this lack of time, Masters should take two of the four 30-minute slots from Morning Meetings in the 8-day schedule and allocate time into study halls for upperclassmen. These study halls, where juniors and seniors could have more time to complete their work, would alleviate the time-related stress that plagues our community. While juniors and seniors would be excused from Morning Meetings, freshmen and sophomores would not be and would remain in the theater as usual. 

 This change would help the average student balance their work, but many teachers and administrators might object to this change. Many would argue that limiting the number of Morning Meetings would harm the student body, as they are outlets for expression. 

While that viewpoint may be appealing, there is evidence that Morning Meetings can be effective with less time allocated. For example, at the Masters Middle School, students gather twice a week to celebrate the week’s achievements and upcoming events. These Middle School Morning Meetings are more constrained by time but often more substantive as the lack of frequency allows students to be more engaged. 

 former middle schooler and sophomore Vincent Von Jan shed light on the issue. He said, “This change would help students improve their grades due to the extra time they would get.”

Although Morning Meetings are beneficial to many in the arts, this change prioritizes the student’s well-being far more effectively while balancing mental health, which is essential to the future success of students. 

As high school students continue to face increasing pressure from academics and extracurriculars, the need for a change to our schedules becomes ever more urgent. By reallocating half the time that Morning Meetings have, administrators would alleviate pressure from their students.