If you and your kid are barely awake at the bus stop in the morning, you’re not alone.
An article in Business Insider quoted experts from various fields who agree the typical American 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day doesn’t work for the modern American parent.
The schedule, which is actually a throwback from the 1800s, is not only incompatible with modern life, it’s also shorting your kids on the recommended amount of sleep they should be getting.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends middle and high school students get eight to nine hours of sleep. However, with three-quarters of schools in the U.S. starting before 8:30 — coupled with extracurricular activities afterward — getting “adequate sleep [is] a virtual impossibility,” according to New Jersey middle school vice principal and educational consultant Bobby Morgan.
And as for that old-timey schedule, the ol’ 8 to 3 was created back when the two-parent household was the norm — and the kiddos were needed to work either around the home or at businesses.
Nowadays, 23% of U.S. kids live with one parent and no other adult, according to the U.S. Census.
If that single parent works, the 3 p.m. pickup time doesn’t work for them — and aftercare is expensive.
Also, census data shows that even if there are two parents in a household, 63% of those families have two working parents.
“This conversation connects to a larger consideration: Why is it so hard for schools to change?” Morgan asked, noting school boards and state departments of education are resistant to change.