Americans spend more than 1/3 of their day with screens

Thanks to churchrelevance.com, I came across this article from the New York Times. A recent study has found that the average American adult spends 8.5 hours each day exposed to screens. This includes televisions, computers, cell phones, and even GPS units. Put another way, we spend more than a third of each day looking at screens.

One of the remarkable features of this study is that this average time holds steady for nearly every age group of adults. Television remains the most common form of media consumption, but this study proves that computer usage has replaced the radio as the second most common form. However, while the time spent looking at screens is roughly the same, the screens that they look at are a little different. For example, 18- to 24-year olds watch the least amount of television, at just 3.5 hours each day. This means that people in this age range are spending a full 5 hours each day of "screen time" doing things other than watching TV.

I think that there are real implications for the church here. People are using screen-based media for 1/3 of their day. We need to find tools and methods to use screens for minisitry. Too often, churches and ministries use technology for information delivery only. In other words, they have websites or Twitter or other things that serve the purpose of providing information. They are using these tools only to let people know when and where they can show up if they want to participate in ministry.

I think that we need to move beyond this. I think that we need to actually find ways to actually conduct ministry on-screen. We have to figure out how we can use the technological tools available to us so that we can use them to actually touch their lives for Jesus, not just provide information about who we are and where they can find us. When we rely on getting people to come to the church, we 0nly have a few hours each week to reach them. On the other hand, if we can effectively use on-screen culture to our benefit, we have the ability to connect with people during 1/3 of their lives, and nearly 1/2 of the time they are awake. If we don't figure out how to do this effectively, we're missing out on a real opportunity to affect the world for Jesus.

I'm not sure that I have answers to how to do this, but I know I'm actively asking the question.

I'm not sure how this happens...

I came across this article about a woman who gave birth on an international flight from Samoa and New Zealand. Apparently, the woman initially abandoned the baby and then tried to come back for the baby. Both mom and baby are now together and are both doing well in the hospital.

The article states that the "New Zealand Press Association quoted an unnamed Auckland Airport staffer saying it was not known if other passengers and crew on the Pacific Blue flight from Samoa noticed the woman was in labor."

Now, just a few weeks ago, I witnessed the labor and delivery process. It's kind of loud and kind of messy. It's something that you would notice if it were going on around you. How could the other passengers and crew not know that this lady was having a baby? One would think that somebody would have seen or heard something.

I'm also not sure how you can leave a baby behind on the plane. It's not quite like forgetting your book in the seat pocket. Again, one would think that somebody would have said to the much-less-pregnant looking woman, "hey, ma'am, I think you're forgetting something."

The mindset of new college freshmen

It’s that time of year again. Every August, Beloit College publishes the Mindset List. The list provides set of things that are, and often have always been, true for people who are entering college that year. The goal of the Mindset list is to provide a look at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of students who are beginning college. To the rest of us, it also serves as a reminder of the changing frame of reference of the younger generation. Here are some highlights from this year’s list:

· The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

· It is a multicultural, politically correct and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.

· Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

· Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

· Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.

· GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

· Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.

· Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.

· Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.

· WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.

· Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

· Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.

· Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.

· IBM has never made typewriters.

· Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.

· There has always been Pearl Jam.

· The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.

· They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.

· Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.

· Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.

· Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.

· Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.

· Caller ID has always been available on phones.

· Soft drink refills have always been free.

· Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

· Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.

· The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.

· Michael Millken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.

· Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.

You can read the whole list here.

It's a crime I tell you

According to this article, Reginald Peterson recently walked in to a Jacksonville, Florida, Subway restaurant and ordered a spicy Italian sandwich. The worker preparing his sandwich aparently forgot to include the sauce. Peterson must have thought that this was a crucial part of his sandwich. So he did what anyone in his position would do.

He called 911.

He demanded that officers come to the restaurant and force the workers to make his sandwich correctly. Amazingly, the police did not hurry to Subway to address the situation. So Peterson did what anyone else would do.

He called 911. Again.

This time police did show up. They tried to calm Peterson down and explain the proper use of 911. When that effort failed, Peterson was arrested for making false 911 calls.

I'm not sure which is more incredible to me, the fact that somebody actually thought "I can't believe they messed up my order; I'm going to call the police," or the fact that the police actually showed up.

Not just a problem somewhere else

I came across this article from CNN today that paints a pretty bleak picture about AIDS in the African American community here in the United States.

Because of the availability of drugs to fight the disease and the understanding of how the disease is spread, it is easy to think of AIDS as a disease that really is only a problem someplace else. And it is the crisis in Africa that grabs most of the media attention. While the Church was later than it should have been when it comes to helping to ease the suffering of the victims of AIDS and those left behind when a victim dies, now that the Church has become involved, it is doing some significant things. Groups like Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church and World Vision are doing some very good work trying to help deal with the effects of AIDS.

But all of the attention and the ministry effort seems to be targeted at Africa. Because of this, it is easy to underestimate the problems that still exist here at home. The reality is that AIDS is just as serious a problem among African Americans as it is in places in Africa. According to 2006 figures from the Centers for Disease Control, 50% of all people in the United States with AIDS are black, even though African Americans make up only 1/8th of the population. AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women age 25-34 and the second leading cause of death for African American men age 35-44.

In Washington, D.C., 80% of all HIV cases are among African Americans. All told, 5% of the population of Washington, D.C., is HIV positive. Put another way, if you take 20 random people from Washington, 1 of them will be HIV positive. That infection rate is comparable to the rates in Uganda or South Africa. Let those figures sink in for a second. They are astounding.

It is a good thing that the followers of Christ are trying to make an impact on the crisis caused by AIDS in Africa. Some people will argue that Christians were late in stepping up to the plate. While that may be true, to me that is all water under the bridge at this point. We can’t change the past, but Christians are involved now and are trying to make a difference both today and in the future. That’s great. However, followers of Christ can’t simply focus our efforts on AIDS issues in Africa. While AIDS may be problem in Africa, it isn’t an African problem. It is a problem that touches, in a very similar way, at least some groups of people much closer to home. It is time for us to get more involved in helping address the problems and ease the suffering here at home, and not just half a world away.

Trust, but verify

According to this article, the choir from a school from Millbury, Ohio, which is located about 15 miles southeast of Toledo, took a trip to perform in Chicago. The chaparones of the trip were a little concerned with the teenagers leaving their hotel rooms after curfew. Teenagers have certainly been known to do things like that on these kinds of trips. It's natural for schools to want to enforce the curfew to keep the students from getting into mischief. And in a city like Chicago, particularly for students who aren't from big cities, there are safety concerns as well.

The chaperones on this trip decided to take measure to make sure that students wouldn't break curfew and that those who did could be identified. So they sealed the doors to the hotel rooms with duct tape. While this would certainly allow them to identify which rooms had people who violated curfew, they apparently did it in a way that caused students to fear that they wouldn't be able to get out of the room in case of fire.

While school officials claim that students would have been able to break the duct tape and exit the room in case of emergency, at least one set of parents is considering suing over the incident because their son felt like he was trapped in the room.

I have to say, while I applaud the school's efforts to keep its students safe and out of mischief, I'm not sure that this was the best way to go about it.

What a great example

I came across this story today. It's a fantastic display of good sportsmanship, and could serve as an answer to the man who asked Jesus, "who is my neighbor?"

The women's softball team from Western Oregon was playing conference rival Central Washington. The teams are battling for first place in the conference. The conference champion gets a bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. Neither team has ever been to the tournament before, so it was a huge game.

5' 2" Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky, who entered the game with only 3 hits in 34 at bats this year came up in the second inning with two runners on. She launched the second pitch over the fence for the first home run of her career.

She was so excited about the home run and giving her team the lead that she didn't touch first base. When she stopped to go back to touch it, her knee gave way. The suspect she tore her ACL. She was left laying in a heap by the first base bag.

According to the umpire's interpretation of the rules, if any of her teammates or coaches helped her, she would be out. About the only option would be for her to crawl back to first base, where she could be replaced by a pinch runner. But then her 3-run home run would be turned into a 2-run single.

That's when Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman said, "excuse me." She asked if it would be okay for her to carry her injured opponent. Since it wasn't assistance from a teammate, it was within the rules. So Holtman and another Central Washington player carried Tucholsky around the bases, and let her gingerly touch each base. When they got her to home plate, they handed her off to her waiting teammates and coaches.

In a crucial game against a rival, it would have been easy to stand by and do nothing but think how unlucky Tucholsky was. Doing nothing would have been better for Central Washington. But ding nothing wasn't the right thing to do.

Sometimes doing the right thing, and doing the thing that demonstrates love for our "neighbor" means doing things that aren't in our own best interests. I hop that when I am faced with these kinds of situations I'll react like Mallory Holtman did.

Talk about a mess...

According to this article from CNN.com, a truck flipped over on the highway during this morning's commute in Sacramento, California. What made this particular accident unusual was what the truck was carrying.

When the truck flipped over, it spilled it's load of 400 colonies of honeybees. According to an officer from the California Highway Patrol, somewhere between 6 million and 16 million bees were left flying around the accident site. Officials warned motorists to roll up their windows and turn off their air conditioning to avoid having bees find their way into cars.

It took over 7 hours for authorities to calm the bees down and coax them back into their hives.

In my favorite part of the article, authorities said that, while they had the mess cleaned up, they "didn't know how many bees remained unaccounted for."

Sometimes one vote does matter

What would happen if they held an election and nobody showed up to vote? According to this article, they had that very situation in Tamarac, Florida.

The city of Tamarac, which is located in Broward County in South Florida, is considering annexing the currently unincorporated neighborhood of Prospect Bend. The neighborhood, with its 200 residents and 68 registered voters, had a special election to vote on the annexation.

Although the Tamarac officials mailed details to the each of the residents, not one single voter actually showed up to cast a ballot on the issue.

If just one voter would have showed up to vote, he or she would have determined the election. According to this article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, it appears that one reason for the lack of turn-out is the fact that most or all of the neighborhood residents rent apartments and aren't property owners. One registered voter, Juan Vidal, demonstrated this lack of interest when he said, "It doesn't make a difference to me either way."

Although no one actually came to vote, the city was forced to keep a polling place open for 12 hours, with a cost of $2,500 to the taxpayers.

Since no one voted, Tamarac is now going to have to try to find another way to annex the neighborhood.

Friendly dolphin saves two whales

Here's a really cool story from New Zealand. According to this article from CNN.com, two whales became disoriented and stranded along a beach. Apparently, they became stuck between a sand bar and the beach. Rescuers worked for more than an hour to help the whales, a mother and her calf, get back out to sea, only to see the whales beach themselves 4 times on the sand bar. It is the type of situation that generally doesn't end well for whales.

Then, out of nowhere, comes Moko the bottlenosed dolphin. Moko is regular visitor to the beach who often plays with the humans swimming there. Moko pushed between the human rescuers and the whales, got the whales headed in the right direction, then led the whales to the break in the sand bar so that they could reach the sea.

After the rescue, Moko went back to playing with swimmers from the beach.

The best guess of the rescuers is that Moko responded to the whales' distress calls. Dolphins have been known to protect people who have been lost at sea and to play with other animals, especially whales, but this is apparently the first known example of a dolphin rescuing a beached whale.

I'm sure that there is a lesson for us all here about helping others in their time of need, no matter how different from us they are...

Homeschooling ruled illegal in California

I came across this article from the San Francisco Chronicle (the major newspaper from San Francisco). A California Court of Appeal ruled that under the state's education law, children were required to either be enrolled in full-time public or private schools or taught by credentialed tutors at home.

As a result of the ruling, an estimated 166,000 children could be considered truants and their parents could be subject to prosecution. If convicted, parents could face community service, hefty fines, or even the removal of their children from the home under the basis of educational neglect.

The decision in the case states that "parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children."

While the articles I have seen don't really define the terms, the court did apparently leave open the option of students participating in an independent study program of an accredited school. So homeschool programs affiliated with a brick-and-mortar school are still at least potentially legal in California.

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this. Let me start by saying that when I was growing up, I spent time in all three options -- public schools, private schools and homeschool. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of home schooling. I felt like the program I used was not as strong academically as the public schools in Northwest Suburbs of Chicago where we lived. I understand why my parents chose that option, but it wasn't really the right thing for me.

I have known people over the years who were homeschooled and who received an excellent education that prepared them for college or whatever they wanted to do in life. On the other hand, I have known people who were home taught and received a very poor education. Rulings like the one in California would have the benefit of making sure that these kids don't fall through the cracks and that they really are receiving an education.

At the same time, there would take away a major choice for parents. Parents should be able to have a say in how their children are educated. There are places where the public schools are not very attractive options, either because they are of poor quality or because they teach topics or values that the parents are opposed to. In those cases, private schools are not always an option because of cost or transportation issues. Removing the homeschool option may essentially force these parents to send their children to public schools. In addition, for at least some students, the ability of homeschools to tailor their programs to the interests and aptitudes of their students allows these children to excel in a way that might not happen in a traditional school. So removing homeschools will hurt at least some students academically.

Like I said, I don't know exactly where I stand on this issue. But I do know that we haven't heard the last of it.

The changing faiths of Americans

A major study on the religious landscape of the United States was released earlier this week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The study creates possibly the most detailed picture ever of which Americans belong to which religious groups.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the survey is how it demonstrates that rate at which people change faiths. The study points out the one of the most significant features of religious life in American is this "churn."

Luis Lugo, the director of the Pew Forum, said that Americans "not only change jobs, change where they live, and change spouses, but they change religions too. We totally knew it was happening, but this survey enabled us to document it clearly."

According to the study, 28% of American adults currently affiliate themselves with a different religious faith than they had as a child. And this number does not include people who have changed from one Protestant denomination to another. If you include that figure, then the number jumps to 44%. Let that sink in for a minute. Almost half of all Americans have a different religious affiliation than the one they were raised with.

For some groups, this churn is hidden by the raw numbers. For example, since 1972 the number of Catholics in the United States has remained pretty stable, moving from 25% of the population to 23.9%. However, nearly 1/3 of those who were raised Catholic have left the Catholic church. Put another way, nearly 10% of the U.S. population is ex-Catholic.

The Jehovah's Witnesses give an even more extreme example of this turnover. Although the number of Jehovah's Witnesses has stayed roughly the same, nearly 2/3 of those who said they were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses have left that faith.

The group that has seen the biggest "gains" in terms of people coming in versus people leaving is the group of "unaffiliated." This includes atheists, agnostics, and people whose affiliations are "nothing in particular." This group now makes up 16.1% of the U.S. population. But still, 50% of adults who were raised "unaffiliated" now, as adults, have made a religious affiliation.

The study doesn't speculate into the reasons for these changes, but there are a couple of things that stand out to me. The first is that traditional, family, and historical ties are loosening. People no longer continue to attend a church, or even a type of church, simply because they is what their parents did. I don't think that's an entirely bad thing. I think that if these factors alone determines a person's faith, I think that it is more likely that the faith never really becomes theirs. Instead, religion or church becomes nothing more than something they do every Sunday (or Saturday or Friday or whenever). As a follower of Christ, I know that I need my own faith in Jesus, not just a tradition to follow.

The second thing I see is that people are searching. They are looking for spiritual fulfillment. And if they aren't finding it where they are, they are willing to go somewhere else to look for it. That fact should be an encouragement to those of use who are trying to provide a place where spiritual fulfillment and spiritual growth can happen.

If you are looking for more information about the survey, you can find articles about it here and here.

I also recommend looking at the survey results themselves. They are fascinating. You can find an entry page to the survey here. You can find all kinds of statistical breakdowns and maps and all sorts of things. I recommend taking some time to explore it.

At some point, you just have to take their word for it.

According to this article, Benjamin Lovell from New York City was given access to a $5.8 million bank account that wasn't his. The bank confused Lovell with another man also named Benjamin Lovell. He apparently tried to tell officials at the bank that he didn't have an account with nearly $6 million, but the officials insisted that it was his and that he had the right to withdraw the money.

The investment banker, and real account holder, Benjamin Lovell wasn't so convinced that the other Benjamin Lovell had the right to withdraw the money. The "lesser-funded" Lovell now faces grand larceny charges for the $2 million he took from the account. And he doesn't even have much to show for it. While he spent some of the money on jewelry and cash gifts to friends, much of the money went into bad investments and has been lost, according to prosecutors.

So much for the "bank error in your favor" card from Monopoly. It might end getting you sent to jail.

In some places, the Patriots were the winners

The Super Bowl ends. The winning team starts celebrating and the players and coaching staffs all get a shirt and hat celebrating their team's achievement. If you stop and think about it, you realize that there has to be another set of gear commemorating the "victory" of the team that just lost. Do you ever wonder what happens to those shirts?

They end up being donated to impoverished communities where people need clothes. For example, according to this article, the NFL had 290 shirts and hats they were ready to be given out to New England Patriot players, coaches, etc. When the Giant's won, and the "Patriots 19-0" gear became unnecessary, the league donated these unused clothes to the impoverished communities of San Gregorio and Buena Vista, Nicaragua.

The NFL used World Vision to arrange the donation, which primarily benefited children. According to a representative of World Vision, the Patriots may have lost, "but the children won."

In a nation where so many usable things simply get thrown away, I think it's pretty cool that the NFL would donate unnecessary clothing to people who really need it.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Northern Illinois University

This is another tragic day. Yet another school shooting on a college campus. This time it is close to home, at Northern Illinois University. You can find a more detailed story and video here, if you are looking for more information.

According to reports, a former NIU graduate student in sociology walked onto the stage in a lecture hall during a geology class and started shooting. As of the latest report, 5 students and the gunman were dead, and other 16 people were wounded.

Any time there is a school shooting, it is a terrible tragedy. However, it seems a little different when you have an actual attachment to the school. In this case, Cheryl's brother and his girlfriend both go to Northern. Additionally, three students from Living Hope Church, including one who occasionally pokes her head into Quest also go to school there. Fortunately, they are all safe and sound.

My reaction tonight is one of sadness and a desire to help. As I was driving home tonight, all I could think of was that if I thought it would do any good, I would drive out to DeKalb to help. But I just didn't know that it would accomplish anything.

To everyone attending or related to Northern: We are praying for you. If there is any way that I personally, or Quest as a group, can be of any assistance, let me know. You can post a comment here, or you can email me at questcollegeministry@yahoo.com.

Bet you didn't know a french fry is considered a missile

According to this article, three 13-year-old students at Laramie Junior High in Laramie, Wyoming, were cited for "launching missiles" after throwing french fries during their lunch. Apparently, school officials had heard rumors that there was going to be a food fight, so they warned students at an assembly the day before that if they threw food, they would have to suffer the consequences.

Apparently the consequences are receiving an ticket for an adult infraction under the city ordinances and a three-day suspension. While school officials compared to incident to an attempt to start a riot, not everyone agrees. Even the Wyoming director of the ACLU weighed in, calling the citations and suspensions and "overreaction" and saying the the situation "could have been handled differently."

I don't know exactly what the Laramie city council had in mind when it banned "launching missiles," but I'm fairly confident that they weren't thinking about 8th Graders tossing french fries.

A difference of opinion

CNN.com has an interesting article about Donald Miller and his book Blue Like Jazz. It's very interested. You can read the full text of the article here.

To me, the most interesting part of the article is the discussion of the different kind of reactions that people have to Blue Like Jazz. These reactions allow you to really see a division in mindset that exists among followers of Jesus in our society today.

On one hand, the article relates experience like this:

Brad Jones, a 30-year-old youth pastor at a conservative Southern Baptist Church in South Florida, said he felt alone in his desire for more authentic dialogue about God.

"My thoughts on faith aren't really going along with everyone else and then I read this and said, 'That's what I've been thinking the whole time,"' he said.

Miller's book embraces cultural relevance, not cultural dominance, he said.

"The typical judgmental, hate-filled, bigoted, more people knew what we were against than what we were for," mentality has little to do with the real God, Jones said.

It also generalizes this further by saying:

Some experts say Miller and authors like him are in sync with a generation of young adults who very much believes in God, Jesus and the basics of Christianity, but are struggling to balance their conservative Christian upbringings with a culture that embraces a go-along-to get-along philosophy.

"People like Donald Miller are speaking almost like a prophet of a new age and describing the landscape in a way people who feel comfortable in that landscape really couldn't articulate before," said David Kinnaman, a researcher for The Barna Group and author of "Unchristian."

On the other hand, Miller and Blue Like Jazz have critics. For example, the article says:

Critics call Miller's works casual and glib and that he strays from biblical truths when he downplays homosexuality and other sins.

One such critic, Shane Walker, says Miller presents Jesus as a "nice fellow who meets one at the campfire and swaps stories." He forgets to remind readers that Jesus is also a judge and avenger who "wants to save you from his just wrath," according to his review for "Blue Like Jazz" , an organization designed to help local churches re-establish their biblical bearings.

These two types of responses are relatively typically. I don't think that I have encountered anyone who takes just a middle-of-the-road, I-could-take-it-or-leave-it response to Miller and Blue Like Jazz. Either you think that he hits the nail on the head and points out many of the flaws and problems in present-day Christianity, or else you think he is part of the problem with present-day Christianity. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground.

Personally, I fall in the first group. But that's a thought for another day.

If you thought your insurance bill was high...

According to this article in the National Post, a newspaper from the Toronto area, the mother of a teenager in Edmonton had a little bit of a shock waiting for her in her mailbox. It seems her son has a bad driving record. The mother knew that her son's insurance was going to go up, because "he has a tendency to speed." The 19-year-old has received 10 speeding tickets, and has been involved in two "minor" fender benders, in addition to a rear-ender that totaled his car. But when she opened the insurance bill, the premium was $104,566.63. To put that another way, she figured that her son would have to work full time, making $55 per hour, in order to afford the insurance premium.

That will put your insurance bill in an entirely different perspective.

Not my top choice from the menu

I guess when you review restaurants for a living, you need to be willing to try just about anything. Still, it's not every day that that you come across a review for a dish made of raccoon. According to the Chicago Tribune's Monica Eng, "the meat emerged pleasantly gamy with a slight chew -- not unlike venison or bison. And the sweetness of the beets and curry beautifully played off the rich savory meat and earthy artichokes. If eating roadkill is wrong, I don't want to be right."

I don't care how trendy the restaurant is, I just don't see myself saying to the waiter, "I'll take the raccoon please."

More reasons to not like early classes

When I was in school, I never liked early classes. I never felt like I accomplished much in them, and I didn't learn as much as from classes later in the day. I know that many current students feel the same way. Now there is some scientific evidence that explains why.

According to this article in the New York Times, the body clocks of adolescents are different than the ones of younger children or of adults. In most adolescents, the body doesn't start producing melatonin, the hormone that produces sleep, until about 11 p.m. and it continues producing it until about 8 a.m. This means that the body is still producing the hormone that causes sleep after many students, particularly high school students, have started class. Studies indicate that as many as 28% of students fall asleep in their first class of the day.

Some schools have seen dramatic effects by simply starting and ending their school day later. In 2002, high schools in Jessamine County, Kentucky, changed their starting time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. Attendance immediately went up, and standardized test scores increased and have continued to increase each year since. Similarly, schools in Minneapolis and Edina, Minn., moved their starting times to around 8:30 and saw grades increase while lateness, behavioral problems and dropout rates all decreased.

So moving anything important involving adolescents to after 8:00 in the morning can have a dramatic impact on the results.