Many students are too busy for adequate rest

Published 1:09 pm Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The flurry of concern about school start times and teen sleep seems to miss the point.

While I agree that sleep is of pivotal importance, I disagree that the school’s start time is the cause of early morning difficulties. As a diurnal mammal, we are hard-wired to feel sleepy as darkness descends and to experience wakefulness with the sun. Currently, our 7:12 a.m. bus allows my son to wake up at 6:45 a.m. when the sun is well above the horizon. This may change mid-winter, but for now, perhaps the trouble is not in the morning, but in the night.

My unschooled son is a sophomore this year. Purely by his own choice. Attending VHS consumes 40 hours a week and homework takes another 10. That’s a 50-hour a week occupation This doesn’t leave room for much more, or does it?

Despite our protestations that education is paramount, many families act as if a 50-hour a week occupation isn’t enough. They want their kids to magically learn all that stuff and then go do more!

Or, perhaps they’re scared that a child without a back-to-back schedule will be idle enough to get into trouble? Regardless, how is a young person supposed to juggle school, homework, after-school sports or drama or music lessons (or all three), church and friends (romantic and otherwise), off-island games, performances and get enough sleep?

Adults in our society (myself included) tend to over-book ourselves. Skimping on well-prepared food, inadequate sleep and living a constantly stressful lifestyle is how most Americans kill themselves — heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer. We are a people who live to die.

So, do we need a later start to the day or a new habit of moderation?

— March Twisdale