I was quite bemused earlier when I was browsing the Straits Times Interactive, and there was quite a lot of stuff on the forums about how school should start later than 7.30am. And it was quite amusing to read the rubbish comments that some parents have sent in. One parent wrote:

I HAVE a son who is in Primary 2 in a single-session school. School starts at 7.30am but he has to be in school by 7.10am. Consequently, the school bus picks him up at 6.35am.

This means he has no time to eat breakfast at home - he barely manages to drink a glass of milk before he gets ready and rushes to school.

Every morning, it is a struggle for the poor boy to wake up and get ready for school, although he goes to bed at 8.30pm.

I mean COME ON! seriously, if your son goes to bed at 8.30pm, surely he can get up by 6am, which gives 35 minutes for breakfast/shower/preparation for school? Surely that's enough time? And that's already 9.5 hours of sleep... Isn't the prescribed amount of sleep 8 hours? Anymore than 8 hours to me is LUXURY! And even if school starts early, he can still come home in time for an afternoon nap right? To me, that was just such a lame argument.

Besides, when the son goes to National Service, lights out at 10.30pm and rise & shine/wakey wakey at 5.30am, are you gonna write to the Minister for Defence and tell him that your son needs 8 hours of sleep or that they should get up later? I'm sure that is every soldier's dream, but welcome to the real world, that is NOT gonna happen!

Having gone through the education system myself, I seriously think starting at 7.30am is actually quite effective. On a practical note (haha), no one wants to stand at on the parade square for assembly at 9am when the sun is up right? And that'd mean that school ends later too? I can't imagine how it's gonna be if school ends later for JCs... That means ending at 6pm on some days? Then what will happen to all the post-school events, like heading to Siglap for Gelare? =)

Gee. Parents these days are so protective and kids are so pampered.... ;p