Daily Archives: January 17, 2017

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Start times: How it will effect more than just high school

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Sleep deprivation. It’s a chronic health problem that’s affecting adolescents today, and to some, it all comes down to having to wake up as early as 5 a.m., just to get ready for school. Everyone knows school starts way too early and it’s been told time and time again that students need more sleep. Lately, school systems have been proposing to have high schools start at a later time, but here’s the catch: often times, this means that elementary school students have to start a lot earlier.

Research done by the National Sleep Foundation has shown time and time again that teens who start school at around 8:00 a.m. or earlier have a higher risk of not performing well in school, than those who start at around 9:00 a.m. If districts were to go forward with this change in start times, it would possibly mean a big change for elementary school students.

One of the biggest concerns parents and the districts have for their elementary students is time management and transportation. Some parents who have to work overnight, and don’t get home until 7:00 a.m., or get up in the early morning hours of the day to get to work, are concerned they won’t be able to supervise their child as they get ready, or be able to drive their child to school on time.

Most districts use the same busses to drop off their high school and elementary students, but if start time changes goes forward, it means the districts would probably have to hire more busses to take the younger children to school, otherwise, earlier school start times for elementary students would have to take effect.

If elementary schools were to start earlier, that means they would get out earlier than usual as well. As stated before, some parents have work during those hours so were would young students go during that time? After school activities would be an option for some, which could help out in the long run, but for the high school students, starting at a later time could lead to fewer or no after school activities.

It’s a debate to surely never end, but the biggest question here is really:

Is it worth it to have high school students start at a later time?

Advice/How To, Local, News

Dealing with the cold

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Minnesota is having one of the coldest winters of any state in the U.S. This means residents from all over the state have to prepare to face the cold in order to get wherever they are going. Students are especially affected by the cold because they have to commute to and from school every week-day. We asked students of Highland Park Senior High how they deal with the cold inside or outside.

A common response from students was to wear lots of layers. Ranging from jackets, sweatshirts, and blankets students said they wore whatever they could to stay warm traveling to and from school.

At home, some students said that the best cure for the cold was a warm blanket and a hot beverage. One student said, “I deal with the cold by bundling up, then I go home to drink hot chocolate, or tea, then watch a movie occasionally.”

Some students were pros when it came to the cold, and didn’t feel like it was something to deal with. “ The school is warm, so I don’t worry about the cold before I go to school,” one student said. “ I don’t wimp out, and go outside without fear,” another student exclaimed. Cold doesn’t seem to bother these people which is a trait most wish they could have.

Some students, however, simply are not coping with the cold at all. Despite living in Minnesota, some people just do not get along well with frigid weather. One 10th grader said, “I don’t deal with the cold. I get frostbite.” Another senior student said, “I just look forward to getting back indoors.” It seems some of us Minnesotans can barely make it through each winter alive and well.

So far, this winter has been very cold, and there has been quite a lot of time with temps below zero. But, we are looking towards a warmer few weeks coming up, and spring is coming right around the corner.