Sleep is just a beautiful dream

We have all been that one student with his or her head rolled back, dozing off in the corner. Although I hate to admit this, even I can remember the times that I have fallen asleep in class and woken up to face the wrath of teachers.

Sleep is something we can never get enough of at home, and as a result, we often find ourselves making it up during the day. Sadly, school is not the ideal place to accomplish the magnificent yet evasive goal of sleep.

It is well known that teenagers have a nasty habit of pulling pranks on each other during class. When a student is sleeping with his elbow propped on the table, I can’t tell you the amount of times that someone else has knocked the sleeping victim’s elbow off the table and caused his face to hit the desk. And even though it seems funny, it really does hurt.

Sometimes, teachers also participate in such acts in order to provide comic relief for the rest of their class. World History teacher Kirk Abe once turned off all the lights and let the rest of the students exit the classroom, leaving the sleeping student behind. It’s a well-known fact: With sleep in class also comes public shame, and neither will exist without the other.

On a more academic note, dozing in class provokes an endless, vicious cycle: not paying attention during class leads to more time spent catching up with homework and studying, which  requires staying up late, which reduces sleep. The next day, the same student will be found sleeping in class again. This interminable loop is only detrimental to education, the main point of school.

Additionally, most teachers deduct participation points for regular snoozers. Accounting for up to about 15 percent of the overall grade, participation grades can be greatly impacted when half-asleep students are unresponsive in class.

The seemingly obvious answer to this common issue lies in the amount of homework students receive each night. Adults often ask why high school students never sleep enough and lecture their children on its importance.

The truth is that students completely understand that at least eight hours of sleep is necessary for the brain to revitalize, but are unable to attain these hours because of the homework load. If teachers reduce the amount of homework, students will be able to get enough rest to pay better attention in class.

But not all the blame should be burdened on teachers, after all. Students in high school must take responsibility for time management. Administrators and counselors forewarn students that taking certain AP or Honors classes result in added homework loads. Despite this, students decide to take even more difficult classes, which decrease their amount of sleep even more.

Rather than taking every strenuous course just to better the appearance of college resumes, students should be able to space their time out more efficiently in order to get enough sleep.

So the next time sleep threatens to fall upon you in the middle of math or English, understand that the decision will always come paired with inevitable repercussions. Sleep is a beautiful thing, but school is definitely not the right place to do so.

After all, as Gustav Graves, a villain from “James Bond,” once said, “There’s plenty of time to sleep when you are dead.”