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The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade
By NANCY KALISH
NANCY KALISH编著
Published: January 14, 2008
2008年1月14日出版
IT’S Monday morning, and you’re having trouble waking your teenagers. You’re not alone. Indeed, each morning, few of the country’s 17 million high school students are awake enough to get much out of their first class, particularly if it starts before 8 a.m. Sure, many of them stayed up too late the night before, but not because they wanted to.
周一的早晨，你正费力叫醒你十多岁的孩子。不仅仅是你这样。事实上，每个早晨，一千七百万的高中生中很少人能足够清醒地听懂第一堂课，尤其是早上8点之前就上课的。当然，大多数是前一晚熬得太晚了，可是他们并不想这样。
Research shows that teenagers’ body clocks are set to a schedule that is different from that of younger children or adults. This prevents adolescents from dropping off until around 11 p.m., when they produce the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and waking up much before 8 a.m. when their bodies stop producing melatonin. The result is that the first class of the morning is often a waste, with as many as 28 percent of students falling asleep, according to a National Sleep Foundation poll. Some are so sleepy they don’t even show up, contributing to failure and dropout rates.
研究表明，十多岁的孩子，生物钟与更小的孩子或是成人都不同。这使得青少年直到晚上11点左右都不困，这是他们产生诱导睡眠的激素褪黑素的时间，而远早于早上8点他们就醒了，这是他们身体停止产生褪黑素的时间。根据一项全国睡眠基金的调查，早上第一节课常常浪费了，28%之多的学生在犯困，有些人甚至困的就不来上课了，带来了不及格和旷课率。
Many of our presidential candidates have been relatively silent on how they plan to save our troubled education system. For those still searching for a policy that might have a positive impact, here’s an idea: stop focusing on testing and instead support changing the hours of the school day, starting it later for teenagers and ending it later for all children.
我们很多总统候选人一直对他们打算如何拯救麻烦的教育系统相对沉默。对那些仍在寻找可能有好的效果的政策的人，这里有个主意：别再关注测验了，还是支持改变上学时间吧，让十多岁的孩子晚点上课，所有的孩子都晚点放学。
Indeed, no one does well when they’re sleep-deprived, but insufficient sleep among children has been linked to obesity and to learning issues like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. You’d think this would spur educators to take action, and a handful have.
其实没人在他们被剥夺睡眠的时候干的好，可是孩子们缺觉却被联系到肥胖还有学习问题例如注意力不集中、多动症。你该认为这要激发教育学家的行动了，是有一些这样做了。
In 2002, high schools in Jessamine County in Kentucky pushed back the first bell to 8:40 a.m., from 7:30 a.m. Attendance immediately went up, as did scores on standardized tests, which have continued to rise each year. Districts in Virginia and Connecticut have achieved similar success. In Minneapolis and Edina, Minn., which instituted high school start times of 8:40 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. respectively in 1997, students’ grades rose slightly and lateness, behavioral problems and dropout rates decreased.
2002年，Kentucky州Jessamine县的高中把第一声上课铃从早上7：30推迟到8：40。出席人数立即上升，在标准测验中的分数也是，而且每年持续上升。Virginia和Connecticut 地区也有相似的成功。Minnesota州的Minneapolis和 Edina，1997年分别规定高中上课时间是早上8：40和8：30，学生等级略有上升，迟到、行为问题减少，旷课率下降。
Later is also safer. When high schools in Fayette County in Kentucky delayed their start times to 8:30 a.m., the number of teenagers involved in car crashes dropped, even as they rose in the state.
晚点儿也安全点儿。Kentucky州Fayette县的高中把上课时间推迟到早上8：30之后，十多岁孩子发生的车祸也少了，而同一个州里的数值却是上升的。
So why hasn’t every school board moved back that first bell? Well, it seems that improving teenagers’ performance takes a back seat to more pressing concerns: the cost of additional bus service, the difficulty of adjusting after-school activity schedules and the inconvenience to teachers and parents.
那么为什么并不是每个学校委员会都推后第一声铃呢？嗯，看上去改善十多岁孩子的表现还是居于其次啊。倒是额外公交服务开支，调整放学后活动安排的困难，还有老师和家长的不方便这些不利因素更为人关注。
But few of these problems actually come to pass, according to the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the University of Minnesota. In Kentucky and Minnesota, simply flipping the starting times for the elementary and high schools meant no extra cost for buses. Nor have after-school jobs and activities been affected as anticipated. And though team practices and matches might have to start a bit later, student participation has usually stayed the same. Some districts have even witnessed improved performance from better-rested athletes.
不过，根据Minnesota大学应用研究与教育提高中心的观点，这些问题事实上很少发生。在Kentucky州和Minnesota州，单单改了小学和高中的上课时间并不带来额外的公交开支。放学后的工作和活动也不像预期那样受到影响。虽然团队练习和比赛会开始得晚一些，学生的参与率也通常是维持原状的。有些地区甚至证明这些得到更好休息的运动员表现更好了。
Of course, when school starts later, it has to end later. But instead of viewing this as a liability, we should see it as an opportunity to extend the day even further until 5 p.m. or later, not just for high school students but for those in elementary and middle school as well. It would help working parents if their children were on the same basic schedule.
当然，学校上学晚了，放学也就得晚。不过，如果不把晚放学看成负担的话，我们可以看到这是一个把白天时间延伸甚至远到下午5点或者更晚的机会，不仅仅是对高中生，对小学生、初中生来说也是这样。对有工作的父母来说，如果孩子们和他们基本的时间表相同，也是有好处的。
But there are other reasons to start and end school at a later time. According to Paul Reville, a professor of education policy at Harvard and chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education, “Trying to cram everything our 21st-century students need into a 19th-century six-and-a-half-hour day just isn’t working.” He says that children learn more at a less frantic pace, and that lengthening the school day would help “close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their better-off peers.”
另外，还有别的理由来晚上学、晚放学。Paul Reville，哈佛大学教育政策教授，Massachusetts 州教育委员会主席，说：“把21世纪的学生所需要的所有东西填在19世纪的一天六个半小时里是不行的。”他认为孩子们在不这么疯狂的节奏下能学得更好，拉长在学校的时间是有好处的，可以“消除所谓差生和优等生成绩上的巨大差距。”
Massachusetts has opened more than a dozen “expanded learning time” schools, which add about three hours to the school day. Students spend additional time on subjects like math and English, but also enjoy plentiful art, music, physical education and recess — all of which are being slashed at many schools.
Massachusetts 州已经开办了十二个以上“延伸学习时间”的学校，它们上学时间一天多大约3个小时。在额外的时间里，学生除了学习数学、英语这样的科目，也大量欣赏美术、音乐作品，进行体育活动，还有休息——这些在很多学校都是被大量削减的。
Also, why not make sure there’s built-in time for doing homework? That way, children could get their work done at school where professionals can help them, freeing them to spend time with their families when they do get home.
还有，为什么不固定一个做家庭作业的时间呢？那样的话，孩子们可以在学校里做完作业，有老师们的帮助，可以省出他们回家之后与家人共度的时光。
So if candidates want the parent vote, here’s a wake-up call. Stand up for an educational policy that allows students’ real needs — rather than outdated time constraints — to dictate how and when our children learn best.
所以，如果候选人希望家长们投票，这里有个提醒。支持一个满足学生真正需求而不是过时的时间限制的教育政策，来规定如何以及何时我们的孩子们学得最好。
Nancy Kalish is the co-author of “The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It.”
Nancy Kalish是《反对家庭作业法案：家庭作业伤害我们的孩子，我们该怎么办》的共同作者。
赞同 为睡懒觉找个理由哦 |
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发表于 2008-4-11 12:07:00