“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.

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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.

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• Lawsuit threats squash suspension and expulsion

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.

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The school has turned off the monitoring program and students, taking no chances, have taped over the webcams and the microphones. The FBI will investigate to see if the school broke federal law.

Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley, Pa., filed the lawsuit. In their lawsuit, they asked the judge “to issue a restraining order preventing the district from remotely activating the webcams on student notebooks. They also requested that the judge block the district from recalling the laptops from students, saying that they believe school officials will then wipe the MacBooks’ hard drives to delete evidence of any camera activation.”

The school has since admitted to using the cameras and microphones to located missing laptops. However, the parents claimed the laptop was not reported missing at the time.

On the TV Program The Early Show, the student said the principal accused him of selling drugs and taking pills. So now there’s  a motive for the principal.

It’s no surprise that an official with such control over students would try to grab more control by monitoring students at home. If the state can take someone’s children for eight hours a day, I guess these officials figured camera monitoring was less offensive – which it is.

Faced with losing their Orwellian surveillance device, the school is probably going to ask the state government to proceed to the next logical step of forced schooling and require students to become full-time boarders at the school. Or maybe take an intermediate step and require students to stay at the school/prison until 9 or 10 p.m., at least until the local curfew kicks in.

Read a Computer World article.

Read a CBS News article.

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The new policy did not start without problems. At first, all students rushed to the cafeteria at the same time and faced long lines. Soon students learned that if their last class was far from the cafeteria, they would be better off going to the cafeteria a little later in the lunch hour.

Janitorial staff initially worried the new policy would introduce more work. The cafe manager didn’t think he could serve all students during one hour. Teachers were split; many immediately thought of ways to use the time to teach students in new ways. A group including teachers, students, janitorial staff, and administrators set out to resolve these problems and eventually devised an agreeable plan. For the problem of serving all students at once, the cafe set up satellite distribution points! Innovation at a government school!

Eight years later, the principal considers the single lunch hour a huge success. Officials from other schools regularly visit to learn about the policy.

It’s worth noting the principal sees fewer lunchtime fights because students are not confined to lunchroom. Why not extend this idea to schooling in general? There would be a whole lot less tension if teenagers could decide how to spend all their time, and whether to spend it at school or at work, and to decide who they want to spend time with. Those who show up at school, likely want to study the offered coursework, while those who choose jobs, want to work at a job.

People over 18 with jobs often will leave a job because of the culture and the people. For teenagers, they often have to study/work with the same people for four years during high school and often many years prior.

But progress is progress, and at least for one hour during the day, for 60 precious minutes, teenage students can decide for themselves how to spend their time.

Read this amazing article written by the principal about the policy (PDF).

Read a related article.

Take action! Propose this idea at your school! Print copies of the principal’s article and distribute it to administrators and teachers at your school. Explain the benefits of one lunchtime period for all students (and teachers):

• fewer lunchtime supervisors needed
• more time to spend with students one-on-one during the day, instead of before and after school
• less stressed students
• less talking during class (we hope) because students know they can speak to any of their friends during lunch (at most schools, students need to have the same lunch period to meet)
• more student club participation
• only clean cafeteria and grounds once, not after many different lunch periods
• more time for students and teachers to meet
• and more!

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The school admins claim skinny jeans violate their modesty requirements. They might have a point. Some clothes are not appropriate for all circumstances, and choosing which clothes are appropriate is a subjective decision. The school likely doesn’t allow males to show their briefs, a style favored by some, and students likely leave government schools for this reason.

However, students and their parents also have the right to decide if they think skinny jeans or any other dress style distracts from studying. And they have the right to leave a school that bans styles they deem acceptable, as Seth and his Mom decided.

The dress code could have been the last straw. The school may be conservative with all policies: music, arts, essays, group projects. Do they welcome creativity and new ideas or suppress them?

Seth has an exciting road ahead of him. Not only can he wear any dress style, he will have much more control over what he studies. Clearly Seth thinks for himself and now he can think for himself while learning. And when Seth meets his friends after the government school day ends, he’ll be wearing skinny jeans, while his friends, unless they changed their clothes, will be wearing more conservative attire.

» Read a related article.

» Seth’s facebook page?

» Search Google for more stories about Seth.

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As you might expect, government school textbooks (and many gov’t teachers) praise government solutions, regardless of how these “solutions” affect your rights and irrespective of their effectiveness. This seminar favors non-government solutions, ones you probably don’t learn about at your school.

Here’s a description from the program’s website:

Our five-day series of lectures, readings, films, multimedia presentations, and small group discussion teaches students what economics is, how it affects their lives, and how understanding it can help them achieve better lives for themselves, their communities, and the world at large. Informative, inspiring, and fun, The Challenge of Liberty is an ideal way to make summer vacation intellectually rewarding.

Learn more.

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Government admins disagreed. They demanded the Sadie Pendleton remove the hair dye. Well, that wasn’t so easy since the dye was semi-permanent, meaning it would take about two months to wash out. Her parents insisted she be allowed to remain in the school, and the admins backed down but still forbid Sadie from adding more dye to her hair.

Update 1 from Sadie’s father:

“After the purple faded, we proceeded to dye red streaks. The school has said NOTHING regarding the red!”

Update 2 from Sadie’s father:

Thanks again! We have another student that tried to dye her hair a natural color but it turned out green. Same school!

She was told by the school that she cannot return until it was back to normal. Her father went to the school to fight it and they are letting her come back as long as it’s fading!

The good news is that more are standing up for the right to freely express! Soon more will do the same and we will prevail!

Your support is awesome!

The girl and her parents parents plan to continue the fight. They want to remove this restriction on free expression. Learn more.

Her parents are right — this issue is more about free expression, than some hair dye. The gov’t admins can’t stand to see someone act like a free individual, a free thinker.

If other students were in fact distracted by someone’s hair style or clothing or car, the admins should speak to those students who may be suffering from envy or boredom or a failure to concentrate. These are the students who need help. Outside of schools, people have purple hair. A person who cannot produce when faced with purple hair will find it difficult to earn a living.

Hopefully, more students will choose to express themselves with their hair.  Wax, dye, close cuts, braids — all of these options can create some individual style.

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Once again, the government’s schools have overstepped their primary purpose of providing an education (if that was the primary purpose). The schools are supposed to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead bureaucrats are using schools take control of people’s bodies.

A more respectful approach would be to forbid anyone with a contagious illness from attending school.  Since some students might be contagious before showing symptoms, the admins could adopt healthy policies used by workplaces and hospitals, such as asking students to practice good hygiene, posting signs encouraging people regularly wash hands, and providing hand disinfectant dispensers.

These tactics take work. It’s easier for our totalitarian rulers to simply inject potentially worthless and harmful vaccines into imprisoned students. If a private organization tried this approach, customers would go elsewhere, and this is why you don’t see movie theaters and gyms requiring vaccines.

Fight Back

If you don’t want to get the flu vaccine, make up any excuse to avoid it. Say your allergic to eggs. Get your parents involved. Threaten to transfer to another school. Or just leave and try home schooling. Someone at your school got an exemption. You can too.

New York state health care workers are protesting flu vaccine mandates. They yelled, “No more shots,” and argued the state does not own their bodies. Your school doesn’t own your body either!

A flu shot permanently harmed this woman. Don’t let it happen to you:

Please note, this column is not providing medical advice. Please speak to your physician for your medical needs.

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The measure has so much community support that some school board members are using the proposal as part of their campaign platform. The sponsor of the bill is on the school board and she says she proposed the bill in response to her 44,000 constituents.

One board member opposes the change because she believes students will continue to use phones after lunch. Apparently, she thinks students can turn off phone when they arrive in the morning, but not when they leave lunch period. The board member also fears teachers will have to become cell phone police, taking time away from their teaching. She fails to concede teachers already have to enforce the cell phone rule. During the first class period of the day, some students likely forget to turn off their phones and occasionally one might ring. With the change, there might be a few phone rings during the class period after lunch.

The change may actually reduce cell phone use during school hours because students can make calls or send texts during lunch. The students won’t have to squeeze in these texts during or between classes. The current cell phone rule is a great example of unintended consequences. Banning cell phone use at all times makes it more likely students will use phones during class.

Not surprisingly, a company that offers consulting services about school violence opposes the idea on the grounds that it will – wait for it – jeopardize school safety. Yes, these consultants believe calling your mom during lunch could lead to violence.

Take action!

Start a campaign to allow cell phone use during lunch at your school. Contact all the school board members and explain that school board members in Montgomery, Maryland, are promoting this idea when they run for office because of the idea’s popularity. Once the board members learn the idea can help them get elected, they will pay attention. Then you could find some classmates to launch a campaign to support the change.

You could first try to find one board member who will introduce the proposal. Then you could lobby (convince) the other board members to support the change. Get parents involved as they will want the opportunity to speak with their children during lunch. If you don’t get anywhere, you could start with a proposal to allow texting during lunch.

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