Drowsy at school? Ask for a later start time.
Some schools have moved their start times to later in the morning and students are now more alert and less prone to arguing.
“In one of the most recent studies, published last month in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, Owens and colleagues found that, after a change in start time from 8 to 8:30 a.m., students at a small, private New England high school reported fewer depressed feelings (a shift from 65.8% to 45%), better moods (from 84% reporting irritated and annoyed feelings to 62.6%); and less sleepiness during the day. (Before the shift, 69.1% of students said they rarely or never got a good night’s sleep compared with 33.7% after the shift, for example.)”
Just 30 more minutes of sleep can improve the entire day. If you can’t home school yourself, at least make mandatory schooling less onerous by asking for changes at your school:
- Move the start time to later in the morning
- Let students skip the first class period and possibly take a class after the the normal school day. The school day would start and end at different times for different students.
Some parents may argue the earlier start times will prevent them from arriving at work by the normal start of the work day at 9:00 a.m. These parents could negotiate later start times with their employers, so their children don’t need to wake up unnecessarily early and trudge through their day on inadequate rest.
Another approach would be to get your school to restrict the amount of homework teachers can assign so you can go to sleep earlier. As noted in other posts, people with full-time jobs don’t usually have “homework”. They do their work during the day, then go home and relax and spend time with their families and friends. If a teacher believes students should do work on their own, let the teacher allocate time in class for that work. Half or two thirds of the class could be for instruction, and the rest for self-study. Either way, less work done at home would allow students to get to bed earlier.
Read the LA Times story.
Read a related story: Freedom at lunchtime! Students do what they want.
Kentucky seeks to raise exodus age from regimentation
Members of the Kentucky mob (aka government) recently sought to increase the exodus age (aka dropout age) from the local regimentation centers (aka public schools). Local press promoted the bill as likely to pass but a procedural vote squashed it.
The mobsters wanted to raise the exodus age from 16 to 18, over the course of two years, starting in 2013. They used two political techniques: (1) set a future date (2) and gradually tighten the restriction. However, any restriction at any time, now or in the future, must be a call to fight. Fortunately, a fight is not needed at this time. Though, the mobsters will be back, and next time they might postpone the change 10 years into the future to further dampen resistance.
The words of the bill remove some of the shine from the euphemism of “public schools.” The bill begins with, “AN ACT relating to compulsory school attendance.” An even more accurate start would be, AN ACT relating to regimentation of young citizens to make them respond to hourly bells, top-down instruction, humiliation, lack of privacy, peer bullying….
Fight back by trying to lower the exodus age in your town. No age is too young. 15, 14…11. For those of you younger than the exodus age, try to switch to self-learning (aka home schooling) or get your GED and then apply to a tech company with a founder without a college degree, or better, without a “high school” regimentation degree.
Read a related story.
Read the bill.
See the vote history.
Prom cancelled to avoid lesbian couple
Filed under: Express Yourself!, Government Schools, Rockstars
A local regimentation center (aka, “public school”) cancelled a prom to avoid letting a lesbian couple attend, with one female hoping to wear a tux. The ACLU threatened to sue the regimentation center. Two female students asked to attend after reading a memo that required one’s date to be of the opposite sex.
In every setback there is opportunity. The idea of having a party tied to a regimentation center could be a gone forever if students/inmates join together to host a private prom–free from their conservative neighbors who use the regimentation center to squash any type of unique behavior, including unconventional romantic interests.
A private prom would welcome individuality, not conformity. All would be welcome: individuals with any sexual interest, those who prefer casual clothes, students of any age. All these individuals could join together for one night to celebrate life, friendship, love, and the pending liberation of the oldest in attendance from the regimentation center.
See related article on Huffington Post.
Parents sue school for viewing son with webcam
A government school in Pennsylvania used cameras and microphones on laptops issued to students to locate missing laptops and, oh by the way, to also monitor students. Yes, the “telescreen” devices from the book 1984 have arrived in 2010. Parents of a monitored student have sued the school after receiving a photo of their son engaging in what the school considered to be inappropriate behavior. Read more
Suspended for Facebook page, student can sue
A federal judge ruled a former high school student suspended for creating a Facebook page that criticized her English teacher can sue the high school principal who suspended her. The page entitled “Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever had” attracted current and former students, some of whom criticized the teacher and others who offered support. The student, Katherine Evans, took down the page after a few days. Two months later, the principal suspended her for creating the page. Represented by the ACLU, the student, now in a second year college student, wants the suspension expunged from her record, payment for legal fees, and a nominal award. See news coverage and legal info.
Germans flee to home school in US
For all we write about persecution in the United States, when it comes to home schooling, German citizens flee their country for the freedom to teach their children. A US judge recently granted asylum to a German family with five children. The article in the French paper, Le Monde, used accurate language to describe the goverment’s “free” “public” “school system” as compulsory schooling. However, the article cast home schooling as driven by religious views, when it’s about allowing people the right to study what they want and how they want. The idea of sitting in a room with 30 other people with different abilities and interests, yet all being forced to learn the same subject is not what many would call smart schooling.
“Free Range Kids”
A New York City mom who allows her nine-year-old son to ride the subway wrote an article about her mothering ways and became an overnight news story, cast as the “Worst Mom in America.” Many hate e-mails later, the mom wrote a book called “Free Range Kids” and now maintains a blog to argue that childhood is about discovering the world, not being held captive, and some of kids’ fondest memories are those on their own. With more mom’s thinking that children deserve more freedom, the less likely it is that power-hungry politicians hell-bent on showing they’re tough on crime will propose laws restricting the actions of teenagers. If kids deserve free range, they don’t deserve government schools with locked-down campuses. It wouldn’t be surprising if the author decided to home school her son, giving him “free range” to learn what interests him, rather than topics chosen by the federal and state government or the local school board. Read more
Court approves uniform protest with “Hitler Youth” buttons
Filed under: Express Yourself!, Rockstars, School, Uncategorized
Totalitarian, egalitarian, envious school bureaucrats love uniforms. They force everyone to be equal and suppress free expression. Two students, in the fifth and seventh grades, at schools in Bayonne, New Jersey, protested their schools’ new uniform policies by wearing buttons stating “no school uniforms” with a slash through them along with a photo of Hitler Youth boys wearing identical shirts and neckerchiefs. No swastikas appeared on the buttons. School admins threatened to suspend the students, so their parents sued. Referencing the famous Tinker arm band decision, a judge ruled the protest may continue because it did not disrupt the school. Read more
10 rules for dealing with the police
Did you know that if the police ask you to step out of your car, you should close and lock the door after you exit? Same goes for your home, step outside and speak to the police outside your home. A video from Flex Your Rights illustrates this advice and more. For an encounter, the video shows how you should not act, then shows how you should act. If the former, the subject goes to jail. In the latter, he or she proceeds. Read more
Youth rights group sues to repeal Florida curfew
Residents of the warm, year-round climate of Palm Beach, Florida, regularly stay outside during the late evening, unless they happen to be under the age 18. A local curfew law bars those under 18 from being outside past 10 pm weeknights and 11 pm weekends, unless, one is exercising first amendment rights, including the right to peaceably assemble. Confusing, isn’t it? The National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida sued the city to repeal the law they claim contains a First Amendment exception that, in the words of their star attorney, “swallows” the law. Read more
Welcome to Libertarian Rock
Libertarian Rock helps and promotes teenage activists — Libertarian Rockstars — who peacefully and legally fight back against unjust laws and harassment by politicians and government workers. Starting with curfew protests in 1997 in San Diego, Libertarian Rock supports the right of people aged 13 and older to live autonomously. More >>
