NBC today reported on biochemical reasons why teens have trouble waking up and being alert in class at the time most of us are in class or at a desk or otherwise fully engaged with the day. I couldn't find the segment, but the same story is reported here...http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Grades+improve+classes+start+later+study+finds/5262224/story.html➚
All good. Why notable? We were talking about this 20+ years ago when I was studying to be a teacher; there have been recommendations for years to push high school classes back later, and this study confirms what we've known all along.
The problem with unintuitive changes is that most of the people affected by the change don't have the background of the experts or even the foundation to understand the discussion. In this case, that includes a lot of students, parents, and teachers.
Hence resistance to things like teaching in a language other than English, a sliding scale for grades rather than fixed percentiles, peer instruction, outcomes-based education, or, of course, starting a teenager's day an hour later.
It's not just a matter of "if it was good enough for me, it's good enough for them"; that type of ignorance is a old as humanity; it's a matter of institutionalized ignorance, where xenophobic responses to people and ideas masquerade as political discourse.
If you carefully observe closely enough and long enough, beentheredonethat becomes the subtext of nearly every debate.
Look at the comment at the link above to this story:
Joe Schmoe is the reason why we will be forever fighting for common sense to prevail, and why those that possess it will never win.
Joe Schmoe
4:56 PM on August 17, 2011
Um....how about kids go to bed earlier and get a good nights sleep...this study seems silly...how many $$$ were wasted on it ??? I don't buy the fact that a kid who sleeps from 10-7 performs worse than a kid who sleeps from 11-8...god help any kid who moves time zones...then he's really screwed....
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