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Individuality And Conformity In Education

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Individuality and Conformity in Education

“Common sense to improve student achievement that too few have implemented: let teens sleep more, start school later[.]”—Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education. The disputes over schools’ demands for conformity have all been drawn-out for far too long with little change. The justification for this ongoing discussion is the belief that mass public schooling holds that students should be able to become unique and independent individuals while also promoting conformity in effort to socialize students. While both objectives are significant, they may come with a price. An abundance of individuality given to the students may cause an issue over maintaining control over them, whereas ample conformity can …show more content…

The way that school is mercilessly scheduled affects students mental and physical health, in turn giving reason to support its adaptability to each individual student. As exemplified in the bell schedule, copious schools have an immensely restricting schedule, with this particular school forcing students to spend six hours and forty-five minutes in eight back-to-back classes with four minutes to get to each class. For my case in particular, my school starts at 7:30 a.m., with my bus arriving by 6:40 a.m. at my house for pickup, and in result my reason as to why I am up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready and walk to the bus stop. This inflexible schedule, due to my own personal experiences and scientific studies, leaves no room for the brain or body to rest, realign, or be creative, at the least. As stated by UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, “ Teens can throw off their body clocks by often staying up late at night... When their internal clocks are not set right, teens can become very sleepy when they should be wide awake...There is a shift in the timing of your circadian rhythms...When puberty begins, this rhythm shifts a couple hours later...While they begin going to sleep later, they …show more content…

Individuality should be encouraged to the point where students feel fulfilled, are creative, and can stand out amongst others in future occupations and colleges. Conformity should be enforced only to the point where it isn’t affecting students’ mental and physical health due to loss of sleep, increases sociability, and teaches responsibility and independence. This could be done by changing school’s scheduling to have a later start time, provide the students with electives that promote interest in education and creativity, and even adjusting scheduling within the classroom to benefit the students’ sociability traits. Homework could reflect on this schedule, ensuring a close comparability with college scheduling and studying, thus promising students a better success rate in their future. Individuality and conformity in scheduling go hand in hand in students’ success, and should therefore work together to ensure their propitious

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In our culture, children are trained to think of themselves as separate individuals from the time they are born” (123). The author tries to insinuate that the instructors should not expect the majority students to grasp the concept of individualism immediately they join the institution. Her theory tries to prove the need for the instructors to understand different student abilities and needs. For example, Americans delineate children as soon as they are born. In contrast, other cultures embrace the children and the issue of individualism is not as pronounced as in America.

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Later High school start time are linked to academic performance. According to Sifferlin,in When Sleep and School Don’t Mix, the school has seen so many improvements among student since it required them to be at school start later. The percentage of late students dropped around 3% from the 2011-2012 school year to to the 2013-2014 school year. The number of student falling classes dropped 2.2% and the absentee rate dropped 1.5%.This reveals that kids were arriving on time and the number of student falling classes decreased at least by 2 percent. The article also states “ Stating school later is the best interest of the student when there is a will there has got to be a way.

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Students are being woken up in the middle of a deep sleep. Being an alumnus of Melrose High School, I also remember the exhaustion I felt during the week. This can be detrimental to not only the learning but also their health. Sleep deprivation increases risk taking behavior, substance abuse, and impedes judgment and decision making ability. Many districts have taken part in this time shift.

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starting times begin at 7 A.M in the morning, making teenagers wake up around 5:00 A.M to 6:30 A.M. causing teenagers that stayed up last night weary and fatigued when they arrive at school. Sleep is an enormous part of growth, health, and prevention of stress, think about what happens when you lack sleep. Almost anybody that is exhausted will have lack of focus throughout the day. 28% of tired students tend to fall asleep in their first class causing a harmful grade. Some sleepy students do not even bother to show up to school, contributing to drop out rates and damaging grades to rise.

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