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Why schools are struggling to let students sleep in --- By Alexandra SifferlinSEVERAL YEARS AGO, JODI MCCLAY, assistant superintendent of the school district in Temecula, Calif., started fielding a bizarre complaint from parents and students. It was too hard, they said, for teens to rise in time for homeroom. Initially, she was puzzled. Classes started at 7:30a.m. The solution seemed simple: go to bed earlier. That’s when McClay learned about sleep phase delay, the medical term for how puberty affects bedtime. As hormones change, so do circadian rhythms, making it biologically unfeasible for some teens to go to bed before 11p.m. and wake up before 8a.m.—let alone get dressed, transported and ready to learn. Concerned, McClay met with a group of parents, teachers and administrators to discuss a question that doctors have been posing for years, lately with growing urgency: Should school start later?在几年前，加州特曼库拉学区的助理监督——Jodi McClay开始不断回应来自学生和家长的离谱投诉。他们认为对青少年来讲早起并准时地赶到指导教室实在太难了。起初McClay对此很疑惑，因为她觉得如果要早起上课，那么晚上早点睡不就可以了。但是后来McClay了解到一个医学术语概念——睡眠相位延迟，这是青春期影响就寝时间的结果。随着荷尔蒙的改变，生理时钟也会改变，从而在生理上导致一些青少年难以实现在晚上11点之前入寝和早上8点前起床，更不用说穿衣，上学路上和调整进入学习状态上需花的额外时间了。出于对这个问题的担忧，McClay拜访了一些家长、老师以及行政官员，并与他们讨论了这个医生们提了很久的问题：学校应不应该迟一点上课？目前人们更加迫切地希望这个问题可以得到正面回应。Among adolescents, getting the recommended amount of sleep (around nine hours) has been linked to higher test scores and better behavior. Surely, McClay thought, Temecula could revise its policy. Others were skeptical. Starting classes at 8:30 or 9a.m. might make it harder for parents to get to work on time, and shifting the bus schedule would cost at least $1million, more than the district could afford. “We wanted to change,” says McClay. “But ultimately, we couldn’t.” Temecula’s struggle is not unique. In theU.S., more than 4in5 middle and high schools begin at or before 8:30a.m. That can contribute to sleep deprivation, making it harder for students to concentrate and even increasing their risk for obesity and depression. The American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed as much in 2014, when it made a formal recommendation to delay school start times.对于青少年来说，获得足够数量的睡眠（大约9个小时）往往意味着成绩优秀和表现出众。考虑到这点，McClay觉得修改相关政策以保证学生有足够的睡眠也许是个积极的尝试，然而也有些人持有相反的观点，因为早上8点或9点半才开始上课对家长们来说可能意味着不能准时上班，此外变动公交时刻表也许会花费掉至少一百万美元，而这个金额对于该地区来说是负担不起的。McClay 说：“我们想要改变，但是最终我们却不能改变什么。”事实上仍有很多地区也在为学生们争取更充足的睡眠时间。在美国，超过4/5的初中和高中也是在早上8点或早于这个时间开始上课。这样会导致睡眠不足，使学生在课堂上很难集中注意力甚至增加肥胖和患抑郁症的危险。鉴于这些消极影响，美国儿科学会在2014年正式提议推迟学校上课时间。By now, hundreds of districts have started to explore alternatives. Seattle Public Schools is the latest and largest to embrace one: this fall it will push morning bells from around 7:50a.m. to 8:45a.m. But many districts are hitting major snags. Under a suggested change at East High School in Denver, for instance, classes wouldn’t end until around 4p.m., meaning student-athletes could have to leave early for away games. Given that 60% of the school’s nearly 2,500 pupils play a sport, “that’s a lot of kids missing a lot of class,” warns principal Andy Mendelsberg. A new system could also impact local businesses that rely on after-school labor from students. There are parental concerns as well. In Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, one mom, Judith Keeler, started a petition detailing how delaying high school hours—and pushing up elementary school hours, since there is one bus system—would make it harder for working parents to find child care. Then she raised a fraught issue in any school district: cost. “Is this the best way to spend taxpayer dollars?” Keeler wrote of the $8.1million initiative, inspiring nearly 3,000 people to sign their support. “This has blown up,” says Lisa VanBuskirk, an Anne Arundel parent who supports the change. “I’m not feeling great [about our chances].” Still, it is possible to navigate these hurdles. The key, say experts, is patience and compromise.到目前为止，数百个地区已经开始探索可能的方案。西雅图公立学校是近期最大的一所采取行动的学校，他们将早课的铃声从7:50左右调到8:45。但同时很多地区却也遇到了巨大的困难。例如，在建议改变上课时间的提议下，丹佛市的东部高中将下课时间调到了下午4点左右，这意味着运动员学生将必须早一点结束比赛。考虑到将近2500名小学生（这些学生占学校总人数的60%）会做体育运动，校长Andy Mendelsberg提醒道：“那样的话很多孩子将会错过许多课程。”其实一个新的(时间)系统也会影响从学生们课余活动中获利的当地企业，同时父母也会有相应的担忧。在马里兰州安阿伦德县，一位叫做Judith Keeler的母亲考虑到单一的公交系统（时刻表）使工作的父母很难为孩子找到护工，所以她开始提出申请并详细说明怎样延迟高中的上课时间同时提前小学的上课时间。之后她又提出了一个令每个学区都担心的问题：花费。“纳税人的钱难道不该这样用吗？”Keeler写了一份810万美元的支出预算提议，这得到了近3000人的支持。“这个事件已经发展地沸沸扬扬了。”一位来自安娜伦多郡的家长——Lisa VanBuskirk（她也是赞同改变上课时间的）说道。但仍有人觉得：“我认为这次尝试效果并不会很好。”然而，突破这些障碍还是有可能的。专家们说关键就是家长和学校的耐心与相互妥协。Before Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia delayed high school starts roughly an hour—to around 8a.m.—officials spent a decade streamlining the switch. They surveyed Fairfax students about sleep habits. They reduced bus expenses. They worked around concerns from community members. During the process, they shared insights with the public and gave people a year to prepare for the change, which took effect in September. Several months in, the system is “still not perfect,” admits Superintendent Karen Garza. But there haven’t been any major incidents, and students appear more engaged. “My daughter used to feel tired all the time,” says Elizabeth Ende, mom to a freshman at McLean High School. “Now she gets through homework more quickly, and when she’s working, she looks more alert.” Eric Welch, a social-studies teacher at J.E.B. Stuart High School, noticed a change as well. “I can see the kids in the hallways,” he says. “They’re not dragging as much.” Those results may well spark more schools to take the plunge—a decision that won’t be easy. But given the payoff, says Garza, “it’s a position we have to take.”在维吉尼亚的费尔法克斯郡公立学校实施将上课时间推迟约一个小时（至早上8点）的计划之前，政府工作人员花了十年的时间来精化这种转变：他们调查这里学生的睡眠习惯，降低公交费用，并（试图）减少社区成员的忧虑。在这个过程中，他们和老百姓分享他们的观察和见解并且给人们一年的时间来适应这种改变，最终在九月份时这种调整获得了人们的认可。起初的几个月，负责人Karen Garza承认这个新新的时间系统并不是那么完美，但是也没有产生什么不利的影响，并且学生们看似可以很好地融入这种体系。“我女儿过去总是觉得疲劳，但是现在她可以很快地完成作业，并且在学习的时候看起来思维更加敏捷了。”Elizabeth Ende说道，她是麦克林高中一位大一学生的母亲。此外一名在斯图尔特高中工作的社会学老师Eric Welch也注意到了改变，他说：“我看到在过道上的孩子们不再拖着步子没精打采地走了。”这些结果也许会积极地鼓励更多的学校决定冒险一试。或许下这种决定并不容易，但是鉴于这种良好的效果，Garza 说：“这是我们必须要迈出的一步。”bizarre a.离奇的，怪异的（指态度、容貌、款式等）streamline v.使现代化，使简化；把…做成流线型
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