Coddling Is Always The Answer

Dang, I feel old. Seriously, I'm not quite yet 30 but already I feel like I'm super old and I just want to kick people and say suck it up buttercup! I was always under the impression until we moved here that the order of school start times always went, high school, middle/junior high school, elementary. Since when does elementary start before high school? Apparently this is a national trend, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan is proposing that schools start later. The first bell of my high school was 717am (a decade after graduating and I still remember that), yes it's early and wasn't always fun, but for the most part we all made it through (and if I can survive first period physics or first period AP biology then really??). Some families need high schoolers to start early, and before the younger grades, because of after school childcare for the younger kids. As a former teen babysitter, that was my gas money and going out on the weekend money for a long time (and in case my former families are reading this, thank you so much for trusting me with your kids and always treating me like another family member rather than hired help, two in particular and you know who you are!). I played lacrosse for a year and know that had school started later in the day, there wouldn't have been time for sports or work after school in addition to keeping up with the demands of studying and homework. I know myself well enough that I have always liked to sleep until the last possible second in the morning, so an attempt for last ditch studying or paper writing would be out the window the morning before school. I know that in college you can take classes starting at 10 and go just three days a week (or unless you stack your Tuesdays and Thursdays, that might have been the best semester ever) but not everyone goes to college and will have to work. How many of those kids will balk at the thought of getting up at 5am to get to a job that starts at 7? It's quite a possibility in this economy with more and more people only able to get part time work. Yes, getting up at 4am to help open Starbucks at 5am wasn't fun, but I did it for a time because it was the job I had, it made me money and helped me grow up a bit. And for those kids who graduate high school and go into the military, you'll learn up early, down late, sleep when you can. So should we keep coddling these kids as they get ready to embark on adulthood? Or will we just say, it's ok because as long as you can explain how you got the wrong answer you'll still survive the real world? Personal responsibility, apparently it's for the weak minded.