Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
1390 Miller St. Honolulu, HI 96813
808-586-3230
doe_info@hawaiidoe.org
April 30, 2015
Students of Moanalua High School
2825 Ala Ilima Street, Honolulu, HI 96818
Dear DOE,
It has come to our attention that the bell schedules for Moanalua High School, our current residing school, has increased rapidly over the past few years due to having to abstain from breaking the rules made by the “state laws” pertaining to how long we are required to stay in school for. As stated by the law, students are only required to be in instructional class for a minimum time of 5 ½ hours. Thus, not including recess and lunch of course. By doing this, the schools in Hawaii would be able to barely make it towards the goal, but at what price?
According to Wilson, K., & Korn, J.H., researchers from Saint Louis University, an average student can only attain an attention span during class for 10-15 minutes MAX. This test was taken on college students during lectures that ranged from 50-90 minutes, which is way more than the student’s attention span. Their research on the students’ attention lapses were all the same, and ranged from no more than 20 minutes while in their lectures. All students had any electronic that wasn’t for taking notes of for the lecture taken away and those kids that had dozed off were to be woken immediately for the research to continue.
What’s worse is that the lapses of being occupied during a lecture aren’t constant-
They were waxing-and-waning patterns. If a student took a small break for 3 minutes from the lecture, the next break of their concentration was for 6 minutes, the process continuing as the numbers continued to steadily increase over the time period. By the end of the lecture, the lapses happened every two minutes.
Katherine Bradley even states that it’s not only the failure of being able to concentrate, but also shortening the days will help contribute to the schools saving money due to less electricity being used. Shortening school days are also beneficial for students being able to participate in extracurricular activities. Students often shy away from those extracurricular activities due to not being able to juggle homework, sports, and of course the long dreadful days.
We not only think in the minds as kids, but as students that are going along the path into adulthood. What we make of our future is how we do in school, and although having more time for learning does seem to be the correct solution, it won’t make a difference if the students themselves don’t have the physical ability to absorb all of the information.
Sincerely,
Students of Moanalua High School
No comments:
Post a Comment