Should school classes start later?

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European schools system

European schools system is like a never-ending maze of paperwork and bureaucracy.

It’s as if they believe that the more forms you fill out, the smarter you become. Secretary general and deputy secretary general are too busy worrying about their pensions and summer vacations to actually produce anything useful.

It’s a system where children are just tiny cogs in a big bureaucratic machine, and education takes a backseat to administrative tasks.

It’s time for a major overhaul, because right now, the European schools system is about as effective as a chocolate teapot.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in August 2014 that middle and high schools should not commence before 8:30 a.m. According to the Brookings Institute, moving start time 1 hour later provides a 9 to 1 benefit to cost ratio and showed more improvement in grades than other efforts, like reducing classroom size.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that teens average 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Unlike adults, teens cannot fall asleep until around 11 p.m. That is because their bodies do not produce melatonin, the natural chemical that instructs the body to sleep, until around 11 p.m. Pre-8:00 a.m. start time does not allow for enough sleep.

When teens don’t get enough sleep, they risk serious health problems. Grades are also negatively affected. The negative effect of early start time on disadvantaged students is even greater. Schools seeking to bring up grades for disadvantaged students have an obvious solution: give kids more sleep.

Moving start time later has huge benefits. Students sleep more during the school week when classes start later. Students also get better grades. Attendance increases and tardiness decreases. Athletes have fewer sports-related injuries. Car accident rates drop.

Resource: the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement.

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Aim of the European Schools

Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together. Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe.

Marcel Decombis, Head of European School, Luxembourg between 1953 and 1960