Eye of the Editors: Sleeping in Class
January 28, 2015
Sleep. It is one thing that many students at Diamond Bar High School and many other schools are deprived of. There are too many instances when the teacher is lecturing and a couple of students sitting in the back are continuously nodding their heads up and down, particularly in classes during zero or first period. A few seconds later, the teacher catches the drowsy students and punishes them by writing a referral or docking off points from their grade. However, this situation is not fair because students don’t stay up late because they choose to, but rather because they are busy with school activities.
Many students, especially high school students, are sleep deprived. On average, teens need 9.25 hours of sleep a day. However, a study by the National Sleep Foundation shows that only 15 percent of teens get an average of 8.75 hours or more of sleep, contributing to the vast majority of sleep-deprived students. Many students have their schedules filled up with so many extracurricular activities just so they can impress colleges that they don’t have enough time to sleep.
Many teachers cannot stand students sleeping during lectures. Yet, students have the right to make the decision to sleep during class or not. Students can either take a quick nap and learn the material later on or try to retain information from the lesson even when they feel drowsy. Educators should not be concerned with teens sleeping in class as it is their loss that they are missing out on key information from the teacher’s lesson. Why should teachers punish the drowsy teens when they are not disturbing class and are just trying to make up for their loss of sleep? There is no reason for teachers to send students to their GLCs when students have the right to either sleep or listen during class.
Sleeping in class is definitely rude to the teacher, but in most cases, students simply can’t help it. Everyone needs sleep, but only a few get the right amount. Without allowing the right environment for students to get more sleep, teens are being restricted from ever reaching their full learning potential.
