…Wednesday when I left for school. But Thursday it rose during my commute: opposite a nearly full moon, a magnificent orange orb emerged from the fabulous purplish fog, which later burned off and morphed into a muggy, 80°F (26°C) day. Luckily, the teacher who shares my classroom brought some large fans (most rooms at school aren’t air-conditioned). Then rain washed away the humidity, leaving a distinct fall crispness in Friday morning’s 45°F (7°C) fresh air. Soon, it’ll be dark when I leave for school, and dark when I leave for home as well.

Why is it that school starts at 7 in the morning? Most jobs don’t, since by and large, we don’t work in factories any more — and that’s what our current education system was built to prepare us for:

Students and teachers have to get up at 5:30. When I worked in business, I only had to muster that seemingly middle-of-the-night fight-or-flight adrenaline when I had to catch a plane, or wake up in a new time zone. Now, I at least have an espresso before I leave home.

A local student presented research on teenagers and not only the number of hours of sleep they need but also how well they function based on the time of day they wake up. As a result, the school committee made the start time for the high school a half hour later. To do so, they combined the middle school and high school bus routes.

But I teach out of town, so I guess I’ll be “enjoying those sunrises” during my commute for a couple more weeks until it’s still dark when I arrive at school. Then, I’ll be reminded of my trip to Iceland in January.

Resources:

Fahrenheit to Celsius converter

Time zones, daylight savings time changes for various locations