You may have noticed that seniors from other high schools have already graduated. Their underclassmen are already preparing for finals, and they will be out by the end of the month. It’s not that they are underachieving; Central is, once again, pushing us to be overachievers.

According to Illinois Legal Aid, the Illinois state requirement for the number of school days is 176. However, Central keeps the school open for 181 days of school—one full school week over the minimum number of days required by the state. While this is not illegal, Illinois Legal Aid states that “few, if any, schools keep going once they have logged their 176 days”. Not Central.

Assistant Principal John Bruesch said, “Philosophically, the more opportunities students have to be here with the educators and the faculty here at Hinsdale Central, the more overall opportunities you have in the form of extra learning and extra, miniature units at the end of the year.”

However, many students don’t feel this way. The atmosphere at Central is highly competitive, and we are pushed to be our best. While no one can complain about getting a good education, Jack Cherry, junior, thinks that the pressure lasts too long.

“I think that we shouldn’t go over because the school is already intense enough. There’s an environment in the school to get the highest ACT score, work so hard, get good grades—there’s no need for us to go over when we’re working that hard,” Cherry said.

Over four years, the five extra days that we sit through at the end of every year add up to almost an extra month of school. Whether or not that extra time will boost your ACT scores, or get you into a good college, it’s just something that you’re going to have to live with.