Get Out of Bed, Teens!

On the New York Times' Motherlode blog, Lisa Belkin brings [1] up an issue that seems to get play every late August/early September: whether or not high schools should begin later to cater to teens' natural sleep cycles. I say: Get out of bed, adolescent lollygaggers!

Pro-late-starters say that teens are involved in fewer car accidents [2] when school starts later because they get more sleep, and also that they can absorb material better because they are less tired. These are not insignificant benefits. However, the reason a lot of these kids are so exhausted is because they're staying up far too late. I feel like a geezer saying this, but when I was a teen, I was able to wake up at 6:30 every morning, precisely because I went to sleep by 10 or 11 every night. I was really tired by the end of the day, and so didn't stay up 'til all hours dialing up AOL. I also walked 10 miles to school every day on broken glass. But seriously: If teens are going to school later and later, they won't train their bodies to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Training their bodies is something that will be useful to them in adult life, not just in teen world. Parents out there: prove me wrong—do you wish your adolescents started school later? Or are you happy to shove 'em out the door at 7 a.m.?

Photograph of a sleeping teen by Photodisc/Getty Images.