Today's Exhausted Superkids By Frank Bruni

Julie Lythcott-Haims explains to us all what a perfect child is; straight A student, fabulous test scores, gets homework done without parents asking them to do it… She has the right idea, the right mindset of a parent, every parent wants their child to succeed in life. The way that parents are parenting their children is messing them up. They don’t have a chance to become themselves, they are too focused on whether they did good on that test that they were stressing about for a week, they are too worried about getting the best grade to be able to get accepted into the biggest name colleges around. The parents become too consumed with hovering over their children making sure that they are doing flawlessly in school, the parents are directing their every single move they make. The children then began to think that their parents love comes from the good grades. Then they start making this checklist; Good grades, what they want to be when they grow up, get accepted into good colleges, great SAT scores, the right GPA, the jock of the sports team.

The students of this generation appear to be a bunch of lazy, depressed, unenergetic zombies, but is this entirely their fault? After a considerable amount of investigating it appears as if their lack of energy could be due to sleep deprivation resulting from early school start times. When later school times have been compared to those schools that start earlier, there are significant changes in the behaviors and results that students emit in a school environment. Schools should have a later start time that is better suited to the biological needs of adolescents as a way to aid them in achieving a higher quality education.

Sleep loss can take a devastating toll on the mind and body at any stage of life from early childhood to older adulthood. But, for teenagers, who are at a critical stage of development, skipping out on sleep can be particularly dangerous. One standout finding is that a lack of sleep affects the body the same way that drinking alcohol does. And like alcohol an insufficient amount of sleep can lead to impairments of mood, affect regulation, attention, memory, behavior control, executive function, and quality of life. In a study of nearly 28,000 suburban high school students, published earlier this year in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, found that each hour of lost sleep is associated with a 38 percent risk of feeling sad or hopeless and a 58 percent increase in suicide attempts. As well teens who sleep an average of six hours per night are also three times more likely to suffer from depression, a 2010 study found. Thus, the correlation between sleep deprivation and depression go hand in hand among teenagers. Also, losing sleep can also have a long-term negative effect on a teens physical health with poor sleep quality being linked to diabetes and obesity risk for teens. Sleep correlates with the well-being of teens, but it also closely relates with academic

Many high school students wander into school each day shuffling around and trying not to pass out in their classes. In order to cut back on sleep-deprived teens, we must follow through with this solution; it would give students enough time to go to bed early and wake up at an appropriate time. According to Sleep Foundation, teenagers require eight to ten hours of sleep and are not getting that with the current schedule. Many teenagers have discombobulated biological clocks and need the opportunity to adjust their sleeping schedule as they see fit. If this plan were to be put into practice, more positive attitudes would emerge from schools all over America due to their fulfilled need of sleep, which would give teachers, students, principals, counselors, and even parents a more productive start to each day. On the other hand, I realize that the opposing side of this intelligent solution may proclaim that some teenagers would abuse this and go to bed even later, but people must also realize that a large amount of teenagers who wish to succeed academically would gladly not abuse this and respect this privilege; although there would be some teenagers to mistreat this, it is up to the maturity level of the student, and they choose whether they want to succeed or

Imagine: a world where a biological necessity is not seen as a priority, and adolescent’s educations are suffering. This is how schools’ think about sleep.What all human beings need to survive is being put on the back burner by most schools in America- sleep(11a). It has been proven through the process of scientific research that sleep is necessary on the same level as food or activity. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation is a chronic health problem that many youths suffer from today. Teens are naturally predisposed to go to sleep around 11 pm, but are forced to wake up around 6:15, not allowing any time for adequate sleep (“Backgrounder: Later school start Times” 1). Irregular sleep patterns during teenage years can cause long-term

Many students are not getting enough sleep. In especially middle schools and high school, teenagers are sleep deprived. At the age when they need it the most, teens are not getting enough hours of rest because of how early their school starts. It is very unreasonable that school for teenagers starts early when they need a great amount of sleep. Research shows that “33% of teenagers report falling asleep in school” (Wake up Call, 2014). If students are falling asleep in school, they are not getting the full amount of education and knowledge taught to them. They do not have the energy and positivity to accomplish their best during the school day.

In addition, with such high academic demands, extracurriculars, volunteer work, and sometimes jobs the children become sleep deprived without even knowing it. Yuan, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics, says, “They say they are tired, but they don’t realize they are actually sleep-deprived. And if you ask kids to remove an activity they would rather not. They would rather give up sleep than an activity” (Richter). Regardless of where they come from of who they are, most teens don’t sleep enough during the week and sleep in on the weekends to compensate for lost sleep. But, many accumulate large amounts of sleep loss that they don’t sufficiently recover on the weekend and become fatigued when Monday comes. This problem needs to be confronted, but with not much importance in today's society it's hard to make a change like pushing back school start times.

In “Today’s Exhausted Superkids,” New York Times journalist Frank Bruni expresses his sadness and presents the idea that high achieving, highly competitive students are not getting enough sleep or relaxation time. Bruni suggests “many teenagers today are so hyped up and stressed out that they’re getting only a fraction of the rest they need,” and a variety of causes for this lack, but his main point is other students are causing students to fall behind. He uses his personal high school experience from the 1980s to compare students’ sleep patterns then and now. His word choice and situations allow readers, especially current student-readers, to connect with his ideas on a very personal level. Bruni uses many other credible sources to attempt

“Today’s Exhausted Superkids” is an article written by the respected columnist Frank Bruni who has been a White House correspondent, a restaurant critic, and has written for the New York Times. Bruni begins this article by lamenting the various dilemmas facing America’s top high school students, all of which were presented in the book Overloaded and Underprepared. The problem which he claims to have struck him the most, though, is the dire lack of sleep which has become the norm for high school students. Bruni writes a great deal about how students today are becoming more and more compelled to be involved in more; to do more, often at the cost of precious sleep. He embodies this idea perfectly with the quote, “Lose a few winks but never a

During this week’s article, “Most High School Students Are Sleep Deprived”, by Sylviane Duval, The author claims throughout the article that most high school students are sleep deprived. The author brings up valid points throughout the article and even gives ideas on how to solve this high school sleep deficient epidemic. Throughout this paper I will point out some of the major strengths and weaknesses I found in this article.

In the article “The Teenage Brain: Still Under Construction” it states,”Along with the obvious effects of sleep deprivation, such as fatigue and difficulty maintaining attention, inadequate sleep is a powerful contributor to irritability and depression. Studies have children and adolescents have found that sleep deprivation can increase impulsive behavior; some researchers report finding that it is a factor in delinquency”. Teens are stressed which is causing them to lose sleep. In fact, teens losing sleep is causing them to have physical and emotional problems leading to suicidal thoughts because they can’t handle the pressure.

Frank Bruni submitted an article titled “Today’s Exhausted Superkids” on the Opinion Pages, a New York Times website, trying to convince the reader that students do not get enough sleep. The “Opinion Pages” in the New York Times is a place one would go if they wanted to argue with a subject or be persuaded by it. Frank Bruni shares his concern about the lack of sleep teenagers are getting due to the stress in their lives and he supports his concern with other articles written on this subject, but he fails to prove the causes of teenagers’ lack of sleep with factual evidence. It was hard to understand the author’s main point; he was all over the place. (need two more sentences)

Bruni’s response hit me hard because I, and many others around me, can relate. I agree with Bruni, sleep deprivation is an immense problem among “superkids” today. I know from personal experience that many of my peers, myself included, attempt to go above and beyond in everything that they do. These dedicated students are constantly trying to improve to be the best possible version of themselves. With

I disagree with Bruni’s perception that students do not get enough sleep due to pressure and expectations because most of them are careless and choose to do other things. I have witnessed this first hand throughout my life. For instance, I am sitting here late at night writing this essay that is due tomorrow rather than getting rest because I would much rather have an acceptable grade, or at least have it

“Today’s Exhausted Superkids”, an article by Frank Bruni, shows us how the new norm for teens is to be overloaded with an extreme drive for success. These striving teens are being referred to as “Superkids” in Bruni’s article because the hype for a competitive edge among teens today is causing a lack of sleep. Bruni’s opening to his article expresses his distress towards high school students who are always in search of that competitive edge. While Bruni was reading an article about sleep deprived teens, he had an awakening when he realized teens are so stressed and hyped up that they are only getting a fraction of needed sleep. Sleep is an essential part of healthy growth, especially in the age range of a teen because they are still developing. Furthermore, Bruni makes the point that when he was a teen students were getting too much sleep, but now students welcome those hours of sleep lost in order to get ahead. Throughout the essay, Bruni makes the important point and uses astonishing facts that high school students need to begin putting sleep first because of how detrimental it is to their emotional and physical health.