By Qingyang Zhang, Y13
Grudgingly opening your eyes at 7:00 in the morning, you wonder why you have to be at school at 8:10 if you finish classes before 16:00. School schedules are designed with particular start times and class lengths, so let us explore the reasons behind school schedules and challenge them.
Probably the most controversial feature of a typical school schedule is its starting time. “Hormonal changes, in particular, the secretion of melatonin, shift the natural circadian rhythm of adolescents, making it … difficult for them to fall asleep early in the evening”. A neuroscience study supports the claim that teenage brains are wearier early in the morning. Alpha waves are brain waves associated with a calm state of mind, and this study shows that “students’ resting alpha brain activity decreased as the day progressed”, meaning students’ brains are more active in the afternoon. Therefore, school schedules should account for this lagging circadian cycle by starting later. Yet how late is sufficient, and how late is too late? Starting school at 8:10 means classes end at 16:30, which leaves time for extracurricular activities and socialising before dinner. If starting time is pushed to 9:10, assuming all activities stay the same, classes will finish at 17:30, which does not leave a lot of time for extracurricular activities. 8:40 seems to be a reasonable starting time (where classes start at 8:45), as ending classes at 17:00 leaves plenty of time for extracurricular activities and seems compatible with families’ evening routine.
A possible negative consequence of starting and finishing school late is that everything will be pushed into the evening, and homework will keep students up past midnight. However, a study done in Singapore showed that pushing school’s starting time increased students’ sleeping hours consistently.
Another element of the school schedule is class length. Classes vary from 45 minutes to 90 minutes long, but can students keep focused during this time? Some studies have suggested that students’ attention span is limited to a shocking 10-15 minutes. However, 15-20 minute classes don’t allow for the thorough explanation needed for some complex concepts. Moreover, it takes time to walk between lessons, so lessons shorter than 30 minutes seem inefficient.
On a related note, there seems to be confusion and nuance in defining “attention span”. One paper reports teenagers’ average “attention span” to be a dozen seconds. I think a 12-second “attention span” might mean a period of intense concentration, while a 90-minute chemistry class does not require one’s full attention each second to understand the content delivered.
However, it is equally important to recognise that a 90-minute class is the perfect recipe for distraction! It is not uncommon to see classmates zoning out during double chemistry or struggle through calculations in maths because of fatigue.
Determining class length is a fine balance between longer classes needed for deeper learning, and shorter classes to account for short attention spans. A tentative suggestion is to replace single periods (45 minutes) with 40-minute classes, and to replace double periods with 60-minute lessons, so the entire system works in blocks of 20 minutes (you could say students have either double or triple periods). To compensate for the loss of double-period class time, there could be more classes per week. The 5-minute break between classes could be replaced by 10-minute breaks for students to manoeuvre between classes. With the extended break, the additional 5-minute grace period teachers often give to students at the start of class could be removed, making starting time for classes more defined. This will account for the 5 minutes lost from 45-minute classes as well as ensure a sharper starting time for each class. I don’t think this schedule change will decrease the total time students spend learning, as the current system has unrealistically short breaks that eat into class time regardless.
The school schedule is devised as it is for a reason but that does not mean it is flawless. What do you think about the current school schedule and my suggestions? Let me know in the comments.
