The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade

One more from today’s Times (can you tell what I read on the plane?): Nancy Kalish argues that high schools and middle schools should start later in the morning to accommodate teenagers’ natural sleep cycle. Great idea. But she also argues that the school day should be expanded from 6.5 to 8 hours, quoting some jackass who says “Trying to cram everything our 21st-century students need into a 19th-century six-and-a-half-hour day just isn’t working.” The last thing kids need is to be cooped up in school for more hours each day.

★ Monday, 14 January 2008