Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Let Teenagers Sleep

scientificamerican.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 497 posts

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#381

Post by freework »

My high school started at I think 6:45. I would set my alarm for 6:00, but would hit the snooze button a few times until about I think something like 6:20 when I had to absolutely get up. I knew that if I got out of bed at 6:21 or 6:22, I would have to rush to get to school on time. 6:20 was the exact latest time I could wake up without rushing. I had the times down to the minute. Every morning was a struggle to get out of bed. I never got used to it.

Now as an adult, I work from home, so I wake up and go to sleep whenever I want. If I want to wake up at 3PM and go to bed at 5AM, I can do that with no consequence. It's amazing. These days I occasionally have to wake up early, but when I do, I have no problem doing so. I think it's because if I'm waking up early these days, it's because I'm doing something special that I want to do, like traveling. This makes be think think the reason why I had such trouble waking up as a teenager was because I just hated school so much.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#382

Post by freetime2 »

anthomtb wrote: post #353
jesterman wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is a disproportionate amount of money spent on very few children for theater and music?

Not where I grew up. Sports teams, theater and music programs were all funded equally. All extracurriculars came with fees and fundraisers. One of the gym teachers, also the basketball coach, was useless if the team was likely to make a playoff run. One of the English teachers, the theater director, was equally useless during the weeks leading up to a performance. I thought the GGP was being unfair to athletics. Scho…

And in a country where 69% of adults are overweight, and 36% are obese [1], I would like to see even more emphasis on physical education (including after-school sports) rather than less.

[1] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesi...

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#383

Post by dkqmduems »

jandrese wrote: post #192
boringg wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird to discuss children as turning them into something profitable

That's the entire purpose of the school system. To make them into workers that can produce value for companies.

Can't have them read Marx in high school. Everything would collapse.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#384

Post by freejazz »

tekkk wrote: post #269
kbrannigan wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The older I get the more I'm realizing "pre-history", "pre-civilisation" are very Western European Concepts. Like when the Conquistadors "civilized" mexico Or when the Portuguese and French "civilized" West Africa.

Here we go again. Just because people living in huts in the wilderness are seemingly happy doesnt mean you can rewrite history. No one is arguing colonialism isnt bad or cannibalism et cetera. Once you really dig deep into history you can see humans have been wiping off other nations and civilizations left and right. Assyrians, babylonians - all gone. One could make an assumption genocide and warfare are almost insti…

You completely missed their point. It was well beyond that they colonized places. It's that they believed they 'civilized' places.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#385

Post by autoexec »

dragonwriter wrote: post #75
autoexec wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's odd that parents consider broader considerations like their 9-5 schedule more important than the health and well-being of their own children. With all the resources and technology we have it's not as if we don't have the ability to find solutions to problems like "How to move a child from point A to point B at time C", so I guess this is more of a lack of will than a lack of capability.

> It’s odd that parents consider broader considerations like their 9-5 schedule more important than the health and well-being of their own children. For most parents, the ability to maintain the work schedule demanded by their employer is rather central to, not a separate unrelated interest from, the health and well-being of their children. When we have both the economic structure to support and a government run by a…

I agree that UBI would mean a huge amount of leverage for employees, but I get the feeling if we see it at all it'll come after most of us are replaced by AI/automation and will be forced out of work entirely. We shouldn't wait for UBI to draw boundaries around what we'll give up to enrich our employers though, and our children's health seems like a good candidate for a line we could draw and rally behind defending.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#386

Post by lolinder »

jobs_throwaway wrote: post #345
lolinder wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The staggering works best for the return from school. There are 2-3 hours at the end of the day where school is out but mom's not home yet, and having the high schooler finished by the time the 3rd grader is out means they can fill in that gap.

High school children spending hours a day covering childcare duties for their parents should not be the policy goal. That circumstance is a failure for the younger children to have proper activities/supervision after school.

My controversial opinion is that the policy goal should be to enable at least one parent to stay at home. I couldn't care less which parent it is, but kids need one at home.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#387

Post by TylerE »

TylerE wrote: post #143
solveit wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My guidance counseler suggested I dont attend college, just a community college (despite the fact that I got admitted to a decent state school) What's wrong with guidance counselors in American high schools? Why do I keep hearing about them giving kids incredibly stupid advice?

That is excellent advice in many states. For instance, here in NC you can do the first 2 years of almost any undergrad degree (all the basic non-subject matter stuff) for a fraction of the cost, and every single credit transfers. Also, much much smaller classes.

Also also: generally better teachers, becaus they are there because they actually want to teach - many are retired former professionals.

Whereas many college professors want to do research and do the academia dance, often fobbing off much of the actual teaching to TAs and the like.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#388

Post by OJFord »

navierstokess wrote: post #173
beebmam wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an adult, I eat no carbs, all meat and vegetables This is contradictory. Vegetables are high in carbohydrates as a percentage of their calories.

Low carb doesn't mean you can't eat food with carbs, it means most of your diet is protein and fat, and you restrict carbohydrate consumption. He can have a low carbohydrate diet while eating vegetables, as long as he eats less vegetables than meat.

Yes but 'no carbs' doesn't mean 'low carb'.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#389

Post by jrumbut »

freetime2 wrote: post #382
anthomtb wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not where I grew up. Sports teams, theater and music programs were all funded equally. All extracurriculars came with fees and fundraisers. One of the gym teachers, also the basketball coach, was useless if the team was likely to make a playoff run. One of the English teachers, the theater director, was equally useless during the weeks leading up to a performance. I thought the GGP was being unfair to athletics. Scho…

And in a country where 69% of adults are overweight, and 36% are obese [1], I would like to see even more emphasis on physical education (including after-school sports) rather than less. [1] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesi...

I've come to see obesity and our production of elite athletes as two sides of the same coin.

When I was in high school my baseball and football practices were 2-3 hours long and I would be exhausted and wheezing by the end of them. I have a knee injury from freshman year that still bothers me 20 years later. That's an insane time and energy commitment, I see why a lot of kids end up doing nothing.

I'd like to see more options that are lower intensity, don't require a commitment, and meet kids where they're at fitness level-wise.

Re: Let Teenagers Sleep

#390

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Symbiote wrote: post #361
freetime2 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The football coach in our HS has a Vice Principal title, so he doesn't have to teach classes but knocks down $100K+ to run the team Presumably being Vice Principal carries other responsibilities beyond just coaching football. For perspective, the Vice Principal at my high school didn’t teach classes OR coach any sports - being Vice Principal is a full-time position on its own. And this was in a school with far fewe…

I'll bet your vice principal could teach classes, and used to teach classes before being promoted. They may even do so occasionally, if a teacher is unexpectedly sick. My school's vice principal taught two class, so about 4 hours a week IIRC. I'll also bet that's unlikely to be the case for the football coach.

Best history teacher I ever had was a guy who's "real career" was coaching.
Post reply on HN