I was speaking with a friend recently about school, and the topic of tired teenagers came up. He said he mentioned to a member of the school board that they should start high school later so that the teenagers could sleep in. The school board member replied sorry, we can’t do that because we need the school buses to bring the elementary school kids to school at that time. Apparently this is how it works now in most places around the United States:
- School buses go and pick up the high school kids and bring them to school
- School buses go and pick up the middle school kids and bring them to school
- School buses go and pick up the elementary school kids and bring them to school
Which got both of thinking. Why not change this around to fit the children’s natural rhythms? After all, a lot of parents put their younger children to bed early, which means they wake up early anyways, and teenagers tend to naturally go to bed late and as a result of having to get up early to get to school, end up tired all of the time (making it harder to learn). So, why not flip the school run order around using the same school bus resources?
- School buses go and pick up the elementary school kids and bring them to school
- School buses go and pick up the middle school kids and bring them to school
- School buses go and pick up the high school kids and bring them to school
Elementary schools could swap out their before school and after school care for longer after school care, the high school kids could start and finish later, and all of the kids would be in school during times when they have better natural energy.
Maybe I’m oversimplifying things, or maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about, but as far as I can tell it would be worth trying this simple fix.
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