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crayzz wrote:While we're at it, make school begin and end later in the evening. I don't have the source on hand (I'll look for it later when I have the time), but teenagers tend to stay up later, partly because of their hormones. This places them at a pointless disadvantage when school begins at 8:30 in the morning. Schools with later start times (like a 12-7:30pm schedule) tend to have better students, simply because the students sleep better on average.

This amuses me; where I went to highschool the first period bell rang at 7:25 A.M. Yes, it was terrible. I'm not sure we need to start as late as noon, but before 8:00 is definitely way to early.
Also, regarding absences and "butts in seats", the school had a rule that you could miss class up to 7 times in a quarter before you failed automatically. We had a rotating schedule which meant each class was first 1 day a week. So with 6-7 weeks in each quarter, you could (theoretically) miss first period every day without an issue. Of course the kids who did this where usually the ones who didn't care about their schoolwork anyway, and failed for numerous reasons.

From a human currently in the process of being run through the balls pounding, scrotum shredding experience of the American Public Education System, it is awful, and most definitely needs a fix. To me, the suggestion of shifting the school day from asscrack of dawn to 9:00 AM is wonderful, the concept of spreading vacation around so that we aren't forgetting everything over summer is one that should be reality, and the idea of letting students test out of core classes(that is, let them take an exam that says,"I already know this stuff. Can I move on?") is one that gives me a magnificent boner in the metaphorical sense. And you'd think that, as a sapient being capable of complex thought and reason, and being forced through this awful system, my opinion would matter significantly more than it actually does. But no, we are simply statistics to those in charge of this hellish system. We matter not, on an individual level. Everyone has to take english, whether they be barely fluent or eloquent masters of the english language, capable of evoking powerful emotions with word alone. All must take science, whether they be the intellectual inferior to an eggplant who refuses to believe that monkeys have spines or the kid who consumed the entire science section of multiple libraries. And trust me, it is not fun. Having to sit through English class with a bunch of morons is bad enough, but it's even worse when you realize that you can only stave off boredom through The Public School Drinking Game(Take a shot every time someone says something stupid, two when it's the teacher, and three when someone says something that makes you wonder what the barrel of a Glock tastes like. Your kidneys and liver will die, even if you use water).
I think that my character has been established by this point. Curious, voracious reader, sarcastic, tends to flip out the buttered fuck crumpets when public school is mentioned.

Deepbluediver wrote:This amuses me; where I went to highschool the first period bell rang at 7:25 A.M. Yes, it was terrible. I'm not sure we need to start as late as noon, but before 8:00 is definitely way to early. Also, regarding absences and "butts in seats", the school had a rule that you could miss class up to 7 times in a quarter before you failed automatically.

11-12 was the time the study used, IIRC. I'm not saying it should be that late, just that putting it that late would be much better. Earlier times may be optimal

We has the same rule regarding missed classes. For us it was 10 classes per semester. I missed a total of 180 classes in my final year; despite being able to fail me 18 seperate times, they didn't. I dunno why.