WOODBURY — Baggy eyes and sluggish movement are all too common in today’s teenagers. By walking into any high school in America, it’s almost a guarantee to see at least one student sound asleep at their desk, or trying their best not to nod off.
I am no exception to this phenomenon. More often than not, I find myself driving to school in the morning completely oblivious to my surroundings, spaced out entirely paying attention to nothing in particular (despite blasting music loud enough for passersby to hear all in an effort to stay alert).
Ignoring the safety concern of a half-asleep teen operating a car, lack of sleep can affect students in a lot of major ways. It’s not easy taking a calculus test at 7:30 in the morning running on five hours of sleep and a cup of coffee. And absorbing all the information in a history class becomes a task that seems almost insurmountable.
“It’s hard to pay attention to the pre-calc first period when I woke up like 30 minutes ago,” said Nonnewaug senior Reece Davis. “I find myself spacing out a lot.”
By simply shortening the school day a mere 30 minutes, that extra time in the morning for sleep would greatly improve the quality of life for everyone. For the students, it would mean a total of two and a half more hours of sleep a week, and teachers would get more alert students.
It’s a win-win for everyone involved. And I don’t think many teachers would argue with an extra half-hour of sleep, either; I’ve seen the gallons of coffee some of them drink on a daily basis.
An example of such a schedule would be Shepaug High School, where the school day starts at 7:55 and ends at 2:25. This is 30 minutes later than Nonnewaug in the mornings and only ten extra minutes added on to the end of the day. Some people may not believe a 30-minute change is going to leave any sort of significant impact, but many students disagree.
“Being able to wake up at 7:00 for school is really nice,” said Shepaug senior Cameron Goethner. “I don’t think I would be able to get up at 6 for school. I don’t think I would be able to function.”
Not everyone agrees with the premise of delaying the times school opens. Many people would argue that a students sleep schedule is nobody’s problem but their own. And to some extent I agree; it’s not the fault of the school if a student stays up until 3 a.m. playing Fortnite, something I can admit I’ve done on occasion.
However, it’s unfair to the students who play sports, are involved with clubs, and have to stay up until 11:30 finishing up their homework for the four AP classes they are taking. There’s no way for them to improve their school schedule without their grades or extracurriculars taking a significant hit.
“There have been times where I would go to work right after school and not get home until 11,” said Davis. “I would have to decide if I want to get to bed at a somewhat reasonable time or stay up late doing homework. It kinda sucks having to make that choice.”
Many students don’t have the luxury to decide when they go to bed. Maybe it’s work or sports, but either way, not every student can get themselves to sleep by 10 p.m., and some not even by 11. To me, it makes zero sense as to why schools shouldn’t at least try to help students in their studies, and it all starts at home with how much sleep they get.
“Playing hockey for Shepaug means that some nights I won’t get home until like 11,” said Goethner. “That little extra sleep feels really good on nights like those.”
It’s such a simple solution, yet nothing has been done to change the schedule. Call it tradition or the norm, but I call it foolish. An easy solution to a problem which plagues the entire school; I can’t see any reason not to rethink our mornings.
“I would do anything for a little bit of extra sleep,” said Davis. “I feel like it would almost completely change the way I look at school.”
This is the opinion of Chief Advocate reporter Sean Classey, a senior at Nonnewaug.
