Students Should Be Allowed to Sleep in Class— Until There is Change
Who Should Face Consequences? The Student or the System?
Photo by Josefa nDiaz on Unsplash
A student is sitting in a high school classroom, within a setting of about 20 kids. A commonly referenced statistic tells us that if that student were to look around, about 6 or 7 of their peers will have dozed off in one of their “boring” classes, at least once before the school day is over.
Dozing off in class is a frowned-upon scenario that we all have undoubtedly indulged in, in our sleep-deprived pasts. But when this phenomenon is referenced in the context of drowsiness-related accidents and health issues among teens, efforts to find coping mechanisms are prompted. However, caffeine products, such as the current craze of energy drinks, and methods to stay awake while driving under extreme sleep deprivation shouldn’t be the focal solution to this issue. Instead, as a society, we must ask ourselves why such a large proportion of students find the need to sleep at school when their focus should be on nothing short of getting a good education and essentially the larger question at hand: how is our current structure of high school life failing our students?
The Root of the Problem
As it has been established, the issue of sleeping at school is the focal point of today’s discussion. With that subject, educational disengagement is emphasized. In a 2020 research study conducted by the influential Barnes & Noble Education, they found that over half of the study’s college-student sample—namely 64%—confessed that they were concerned about their ability to focus on the subject material.
Many of you may be asking whether you really blame these students, especially when it’s seen that the preferred mode of professorial teaching is standing in front of a huge whiteboard, and yapping for the hour and a half that the students are required to be there. Or, switching gears into the setting to the classic high school, when students are given a measly worksheet to independently complete, and likely gain very little knowledge from.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
While this stance tends to place blame on the teachers, and their attempts at trying to make school an inviting place, the root of this problem lies in the inherent system of miscommunication between students and teachers. Students aren’t able to engage in material, and therefore use this as an excuse to slack off, while teachers put their best foot forward, but are inevitably frustrated at the perceived disrespect they get from students.
Solutions?
After years of the cultivation of deep miscommunication between educators and students, there is not a quick fix to mend this inherent issue. However, that’s not to say that we as a society shouldn’t try to place patches over this issue, one at a time, through change and effort, in order to eventually get a better system of education for our students.
Effort, and generally personal reflection, is necessary for all of those who find this issue to be especially concerning. We as a collective whole need to come together and find a way to stop the hypothetical student’s 6 or 7 peers from dozing off at school every day. Our teachers shouldn’t be making generous efforts towards educational advancement, just to get nothing in return. We must communicate to see what works and, to put it simply, what is considered mindless, disengaging yapping.
that student were to look around, about 6 or 7 of their peers will have dozed off in one of their “boring” classes, at least once before the school day is over.