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I don't think it's fair to make every student wake up unnaturally early for the sake of those with any kind of extracurricular activity, not just sports. Harmi

I don't think it's fair to make every student wake up unnaturally early for the sake of those with any kind of extracurricular activity, not just sports. Harming school performance and sleep depriving developing children in the time that they need sleep the most, just to give a self-selected portion of the student body extra time for sports, debate team, student council, etc. makes absolutely no sense to me. >What about we make athletics part of the school day? We already did, it's called "gym."

DamnYuppie 13y ago
Unnaturally early? If we really want to go that route we should consider that our ancestors, until very recent times, were generally well awake before 8:00 AM on any given day. Also they generally didn't stay up late by our current standards, generally in bed an hour or two after sundown. So the issue isn't 8:00 am is unnaturally early, it is most likely staying up unnaturally late that is the culprit.
- josefresco 13y ago
  We are not our ancestors ;) In all seriousness, sometimes we cannot look into the past to guide us as we as humans and culture have evolved to develop many new behaviors and biological traits. Our ancestors lived much shorter lives, in a vastly different world, doing vastly different type of work/schooling, I don't think it's fair to compare everything so literally.
- ANTSANTS 13y ago
  I wish I could have gotten up at 8 or even 7AM when I was in school. We're talking about school starting hours, not wakeup times. You can't wake up just before the bell rings and teleport into class. Depending on how far you live from school, what transportation method you use (whether you ride a school bus, regular public transportation, are a spoiled brat that can get mommy to drive you, etc), what your responsibilities are outside of school, and so on, you may need to wake up a considerable amount of time before the school day officially begins. My school started at 7:30AM, which required I get up just before 6AM, from middle school onward. I don't think that's a natural time to require growing teenagers to wake up at. It was still dark outside then, where I lived. Even amongst grown adults, those that can wake up that early and function without incurring a sleep debt are rare. >So the issue.. is most likely staying up unnaturally late. Kids naturally begin staying up and waking up later after they hit puberty. Trying to fight that is stupid and harmful.
- dTal 13y ago
  You don't get straight out of bed into a classroom. As for the end of the day, you can either spend the rest of the daylight hours doing homework indoors and then go straight to bed, or you can go outside and do the homework later, after dark (requiring less than 8 hours of sleep). Which is the healthier lifestyle?
josefresco 13y ago
"gym" is a joke on many different levels ... but that's a different debate altogether. Also I take issue with the term "extracurricular" as it implies something separate from "actual" schooling. Maybe if these activities weren't tacked on after school like an afterthought more kids would be apt to take them up.
throwaway344 13y ago
I hate to be pedantic, but I don't think "self-selected" is really accurate. In my, and most high schools, in my area, most people do at least one extracurricular, and most do many more than that.
- tjr 13y ago
  If it's not self-selected, then who selects it?

DamnYuppie 13y ago

Unnaturally early? If we really want to go that route we should consider that our ancestors, until very recent times, were generally well awake before 8:00 AM on any given day. Also they generally didn't stay up late by our current standards, generally in bed an hour or two after sundown. So the issue isn't 8:00 am is unnaturally early, it is most likely staying up unnaturally late that is the culprit.

josefresco 13y ago
We are not our ancestors ;) In all seriousness, sometimes we cannot look into the past to guide us as we as humans and culture have evolved to develop many new behaviors and biological traits. Our ancestors lived much shorter lives, in a vastly different world, doing vastly different type of work/schooling, I don't think it's fair to compare everything so literally.
ANTSANTS 13y ago
I wish I could have gotten up at 8 or even 7AM when I was in school. We're talking about school starting hours, not wakeup times. You can't wake up just before the bell rings and teleport into class. Depending on how far you live from school, what transportation method you use (whether you ride a school bus, regular public transportation, are a spoiled brat that can get mommy to drive you, etc), what your responsibilities are outside of school, and so on, you may need to wake up a considerable amount of time before the school day officially begins. My school started at 7:30AM, which required I get up just before 6AM, from middle school onward. I don't think that's a natural time to require growing teenagers to wake up at. It was still dark outside then, where I lived. Even amongst grown adults, those that can wake up that early and function without incurring a sleep debt are rare. >So the issue.. is most likely staying up unnaturally late. Kids naturally begin staying up and waking up later after they hit puberty. Trying to fight that is stupid and harmful.
dTal 13y ago
You don't get straight out of bed into a classroom. As for the end of the day, you can either spend the rest of the daylight hours doing homework indoors and then go straight to bed, or you can go outside and do the homework later, after dark (requiring less than 8 hours of sleep). Which is the healthier lifestyle?

josefresco 13y ago

"gym" is a joke on many different levels ... but that's a different debate altogether. Also I take issue with the term "extracurricular" as it implies something separate from "actual" schooling. Maybe if these activities weren't tacked on after school like an afterthought more kids would be apt to take them up.

throwaway344 13y ago

I hate to be pedantic, but I don't think "self-selected" is really accurate. In my, and most high schools, in my area, most people do at least one extracurricular, and most do many more than that.

tjr 13y ago
If it's not self-selected, then who selects it?