Eastbayri.com

BARRINGTON — To the editor:

Here we go! Rather than looking at the evidence and making an intelligent decision, we’ll just resort to name calling and finger pointing.

According to the oversimplification of some citizens, parents who support changing school times are “coddling” their kids and not “preparing our children for the real world.” These citizens rely on what we call glittering generalities to suggest that the status quo — tradition they call it — sets high expectations and any change to that status quo results in “low expectations [that] guarantee low performance.”

No evidence to support this position, just opinions. Opinions that refer to decades of research replicated by multiple institutions as “pseudoscience.” Research substantiated by The Journal of the American Medical Association (2009; 301) and Psychology Today (2/27/2007); research reported on by such notable institutions as National Public Radio (1/28/2007 and The New York Times (1/14/2008); research replicated in over 80 school districts across the country; research that has proven time and time again since the mid 1990’s that pushing back high school start times improves student performance, mood and health.

Sure, there is the almighty reference to the “real world.” This is meant to convey some historically stable reality of absolute truisms, the most important of which is that the “real world” is hyper-busy and requires all of us to work longer hours, live busier schedules and promote this lifestyle as American.

Of course, I remember a time — way back in the 1980s in suburban Long Island — when parents worked 9 to 5 and made a decent wage, when stores closed for business at 5 p.m. Saturday night and didn’t reopen until Monday morning.

The only real truism is that we decide what the “real world” looks like. And the real world I decide to live in makes difficult decisions based on evidence, not name-calling.

This isn’t about not being a “morning person.” This isn’t about not being a strict parent. This is about the science of adolescent sleep habits, this is about studied and reported evidence from tens of thousands of students (12,000 from Minneapolis alone), this is about having the vision to grasp the benefits our children will reap if we make this change.

If we don’t change, will our kids stop being high achievers? No. Will they suddenly become dropouts? Of course not.

The question isn’t “Do we want them to be better students?” The question is, “Do we want them to be healthier students?”

When I was in school, none of my teachers would have let me have a water bottle on my desk. Today, both my first- and fourth-graders don’t leave home without that water bottle, from which they sip all day. Are we coddling them by creating healthy habits that will stay with them a lifetime?

If my kids grow up and question this frenetic lifestyle we call the “real world” then I will be one happy parent if for no other reason than the evidence that shows a happy, relaxed person is a more productive worker.

Bill Sheehan

Barrington