Monday, January 14, 2008

Don't Wake a Sleeping Teen

Today’s New York Times has an article that suggests that high school start times should be moved later. The argument goes that teens’ bodies do not do well at learning before 8:00 am, but many high schools start at 7:30. Any professor or teacher who has taught at 8 am will not find this hard to believe. A few schools have changed school start times, to benefits of students (see the NY Times Article). Although these benefits come at the cost of increasing busing costs and at the expense of extra-circular activities.
Are the benefits worth the cost? The Sleep Foundation thinks so.
This article written by a researcher from the University of Minnesota is where most of these talking points are coming from.
Overall the argument seems reasonable. I’ll have to save a copy of the article, in case my department chair ever wants me to teach an 8am class.

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