Reader Answers Our Questions on the Ridgewood School the "Late Start Initiative"

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, a reader responded to our questions about the late start initiative:

Reader said :

“I just wanted to point out a few things in regards to the start times for children/teens/highschoolers, and respond:

1) There technically isn’t anything “stopping” them from this, but this would not necessarily be a negative. Timing of sleep cycles is critical.

2) It is up to the parents to dictate sleep schedules, but not the biological tendencies of their children.

3) Teens in the past (us both having been teens) did struggle with the wake time for schools. It has been a persistent issue. Also, an appeal to repeated action is not a defense of continuing said action.

4) Once they’re hormones start to stabilize, their sleep cycles will, as well. Think about how elementary school aged children tend to rise earlier than their parental counterparts.

Furthermore, in places that have delayed the start date to more closely align with the prevailing research on education show that changing the start time of school, particularly for middle school and high school students, has a noticeable increase in attendance and grades.

While I agree that it appears to be that children are claiming victory to be lazy, however, the reality is that schools are adjusting their teaching systems to be more efficient for student’s engagement and attendance by being responsive to the developing literature. I think its a commendable attribute that the schools are willing to change and adapt to such developments, so long as they are equally willing to undo these changes if they prove unsuitable in Ridgewood.”

For reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7177233/