Studies show that students in schools now a days are way more fatigued, stressed, and bored while in class. Based on the article by Greg Toppo titled, “Our high school kids: tired, stressed , and bored”, a brief online questionnaire was put out asking students how they felt in school. 8 out of 10 responses were negative. “Tired was most often invoked- 39% of students wrote that.” “Stressed came in second at 29%, Bored was third at 26%”. These astonishing numbers really prove that schools aren’t the most interesting thing to students anymore. “The message is clear: our high schoolers are none too happy, at least when they’re in school”, in cognate to the article. People are trying to push for school times to start later. Bonnie Miller Rubin’s article, “Fatigue a way of life for many high schoolers”, it states, “The later start is urged for middle and high schools so kids can get the 8.5 to 9.5 hours of shut-eye they need to grow and learn, the academy said. But only about 15 percent of U.S. high schools have an opening bell that rings at 8:30 a.m. or later, according to federal data.” Students getting more sleep, especially teens, is needed for the safety of students as well. “Just a little more sleep time also can reduce car accidents among teen drivers”, also said by the author. And finally the article states, “Over the past two decades, many studies have shown that a good night’s rest can have a profound effect on both emotional and physical health. Children who chronically shortchange their slumber are at risk for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases — even Alzheimer’s, Owens said.
The reason why students are more sleep deprived is because there is so much technology influencing our youth that they want to stay up later. That is the major difference between our generations and our parents. Technology however doesn’t make us degenerates. It is almost an innate ability that we can’t control, teenagers of today don’t really know of a life without technology that our parents do. The engender of technology pulls students away from important tasks such as homework, and a lot of the times makes the body think its not tired even when it really is.
I myself, do also feel tired everyday at school. Yes, technology is important in my life, but like many other students, I’m very busy. I have before school and after school activities every single day. Later school times would really be beneficial for students like me. Any given night of me getting more than 8 hours of sleep is fictive, based on the time I get home from work. I also have no care to learn in school. My senior year has been nothing of a repeat of my past three years. This makes me bored and unable to focus. Schools don’t teach tools necessary to life, they teach what’s on the final exam. That is why it is hard for me to stay awake in school. Schools have transfigured into more of a chore. Until schools become more interesting, and start later, the nascent growth of students falling asleep in class will continue.
