Gordon Forgey

It is the start of the new school year, and a new national conversation has started.

It is being argued that schools in most areas start too early in the morning and that students need more sleep. It is said, students, especially teens, should not have to struggle to get up at such hours to make it to class.

It may strike some as strange, especially those who had to do chores, deliver morning newspapers or help younger siblings get ready. It may also sound a little indulgent not waking the kids to meet their responsibilities.

Yet, those advocating later start times say they have science of their side. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, teens need more sleep and early school threatens their health and safety. Teens generally, the report says, need up to nine and a half hours of sleep. If they don’t get that much sleep they can find themselves in a state much like jet lag.

The hardhearted, on the other hand, think that such talk merely mollycoddles kids and that traditional start times do not inflict undo cruelty on them. Teens need to learn to meet their responsibilities despite cold floors and late hours, they say.

Aside from the health and safety of teens, the ramifications of changing school hours would impact more than just kids. Parents’ work, care for younger kids, extracurricular activities and all the rest would be affected.

So, here is an idea: Parents, just get them to bed earlier.

Of course, anything so simple and insensitive surely will not gain many supporters.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher