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Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

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Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#241
Unlike those of us in STEM most high schoolers or college students don't end up using anything they fail to remember because they're only getting 6 hour of sleep a night. I'm a lot more concerned with the link between poor sleep and poor mental health.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#242
post #115
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember nothing worse in High School than waking up showering and getting dressed for school, only to have PE class first period.

What was so traumatizing about the showers available to you in high school? Because I certainly remember first period gym, and I just took a shower afterwards. Then I was right as rain.

That's great. I showered and then continued to sweat for 2 hours though (I was massively obese). HS Gym was a nightmare.

Funny enough, I did lose the weight, and am in much better shape now, through activities that are the antithesis of HS gym (turns out riding a bike and swimming for my own pleasure beat the torture of team sports any day)

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#243
Can't biological clocks change? Or are there really populations of people who have a truly different clock? Or is it a result of their environment?

Personally I've been a night owl and a morning person alternating between the two throughout my life by choice.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#244
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, it's more that our society has decided that humans have no value until they're at least 18 (hell, with college degree requirements that age is approaching 22), so we have to store them somewhere until then.

Does it make your nebulous conspiracy theory more believable or less believable when you consider that the age of 18 is generally when people's bodies have reached full maturity? Personally, if my 22 year old self travelled in time three years backwards to meet 17 year old me, and then travelled 20 years forward to present day to me current me, I have no doubt 18 year old me would the odd man out in this triplet.

I don't think it's particularly a "conspiracy theory", in that there's no cabal of people trying to cover this up. It's more an optimization function; we have N productivity units, and M humans (where M > N), so we hire from the most productive subsets of M. For the less productive subsets (largely youths, criminals, geriatrics), we encourage institutionalization to minimize the portion of M-productive required to maintain the unproductive ones.

If you look at post-industrialization patterns, the age at which humans become productive has been increasing as the productivity of humans has increased. On a subsistence farm, a 6-year old can be doing useful work to increase the productivity of the farm. In a coal mine or factory, an 8-year-old can do productive work. 16-year olds can do construction, food industry, but for jobs with decision-making responsibilities (as more and more jobs are today), we don't trust anyone under 22.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#246
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s an awkward time for many kids. Personally, I dreaded the experience.

Here's a secret: we all did. But ask yourself this. Think back in time to those dreadful experiences and remember the people who didn't _appear_ to dread the experience. Those people dreaded walking naked amongst their 14 year old peers as well, they just did a better job at convincing you that they dreaded it less than you. You could even say that those were the victors who wrote your history.

14 year old me made many decisions that don't seem particularly rational from the perspective of 14+ me.

People have different perspectives on these sorts of things.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the school and the state. I went to a small district where they shared roles. My wife went to a huge school where the PE teachers taught only PE and were paid coached as well. In some districts, you need certification in a subject... a gym teacher can’t teach math.

And they couldn't be certified for both? In NRW, Germany afaik (almost) all teachers have two or more roles.

Probably -- I think the specifics vary from place to place.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#248
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't take 12 years to teach a kid calculus and literature and their prerequisites.

Right, it's more that our society has decided that humans have no value until they're at least 18 (hell, with college degree requirements that age is approaching 22), so we have to store them somewhere until then.

Kids under 18 used to be valued as factory workers.

Our society decided humans become more valuable when they are given the opportunity of a childhood filled with education instead of manual labor.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a reason schools have multiple periods of each course, and that those periods rotate day-to-day Could you elaborate on this? What is the reason? Saying it's "more economically efficient" than grouping class types is something many of my teachers would disagree with, as they have lives they would love to get to outside of school (e.g. if a PE teacher gets out early in the morning, they can go to their second…

Because a single PE teacher can manage five rotating classes of twenty kids throughout the day. If kids didn't rotate periods, then all 100 kids would take PE at the same time. That would require extra PE teachers, because one teacher cannot manage 100 kids. Multiply this effect by every different area (music teachers, art teachers, etc.) and you have to hire a bunch of extra teachers which is a waste of money. Plus,…

These specialized teachers are non-existent in many schools. You may have a PE teacher, but they may or may not already be full time. Art teacher? LOL

Many school districts around the country are far too broken to worry about start times. The republicans have done a very good job of starving education for money over the last 20 years, and rampant corruption within the teachers unions and school/district administrations doesn’t help the situation.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#250
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sleep in the dark I'm not sure what you're even trying to say. This is about chronotypes and a teenager-specific sleeping pattern that has been identified and studied. Sleep deprivation is torture, this is not my definition. Sorry, we, as a society, decided that not letting people sleep properly is really fucking crappy. If you want to disagree with that, take that up with the party that came up with the terms. Mes…

If you are sleep deprived to the point of "torture" you will fall asleep right during the day in noisy place. No study of teenagers sleep patterns found that they are tortured via sleep deprivation. That is lie.

Uh... lots of high school students literally fall asleep in the middle of class. There's a reason it's a pop culture cliche.
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