It is an age old question you know.
What time do we send the kids to school?
Worcester is convening a meeting later this week to try to come up with some consensus as to when the right time is.
It seems that the kids are tired. Their school work suffers. Their grades suffer and therefore their lives suffer down the road. So they may opt for later start times.
Kids are always tired. But by moving the clock you don’t solve the problem you just move it down the road.
If the kid is tired tell him to go to bed early.
The parent will have to take a stand. They did in my day.
Today it is getting to the point of “whatever the kid wants --the kid gets.”
In the workplace, the boss doesn’t say “come in when you want.” Jobs have hours and the person who has the job is required to get the job done or else.
When the 5 o’clock news comes about --I don’t say “can we make it a quarter after?”Kids are kids. They don’t know about a schedule because they are rarely are on one.
If they were, if they had structure, there would be less issues in the classroom.
Is there anyone who believes that by letting kids go to school later, means that somehow kids would be more awake?
Kids are tired. But they are also less than motivated to come to school to learn. What they don’t realize is that the time that they have in school is the best time of their lives. They don’t need to make a living, pay the bills or do anything else.
So when they get out in the world, they are unprepared. And, more often than not it is culture shock.
What it takes is for school systems to make the rules and have consequences if they are broken.
It’s time for change.
(FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)