Inquiring mind

My experience is that most good students in most good high schools (day, boarding, or public) do not get much weeknight sleep, espcially in junior year and senior year until college admissions are in. This is not an Andover, St. Paul's, or top boarding school phenomenon, although these schools are among those that have a very high percentage of "good students," making the problem more widespread. Many day/public schools do not focus on such issues because the late nights are happening at home, after parents are asleep. The kids are less likely together during study time. I know public school students who are involved in only moderate EC's who get extremely little sleep, study constantly in fear of not getting an A. I consider this a much worse problem. My son at bs got more sleep and much happier/safer social life than his day student sister did at same stage, earning similar grades, both at very good schools,

CKSABS

My son was accepted to several schools this spring, including SPS. He had a difficult time deciding between his first choices SPS and Deerfield (and maybe Hotchkiss). In the end, we postponed his decision for a year and he will re-apply next year.

There were pros and cons with each school, but my son's biggest concerns with SPS were lack of sleep (he likes 10 hours, but during the week usually gets 6-7), the Saturday morning classes (Deerfield does not have them), and the travel required for ISL sports (since most except St Georges are clustered around Boston).

The sleep depravation has been discussed, but what about his other reservations.

hockeykid841

You'll find that you get used to saturday classes pretty quickly. Once they become a regular you really forget all about what it was like with saturday and sunday off.

Besides, saturday classes ended at 11 for me this year, so I had from 11 till check in off.

I really don't know why travel for your son was a big deal? The schools we play are an hour away, hour an a half tops. That really doesn't seem like a big deal, to me atleast.

On the way back from all our away games the school gives us 7 dollars and we eat out. Obviously you can bring extra money if you want, but its nice to eat some good food.

nhfootballer

cksabs, i am amazed your son gets ten hours of sleep. lucky guy. usually i am sleeping between 10 and 11 with a 7am wake up. that means 8 to 9 each night which works for me. i know that i will have to make sure i get sleep next year at sps.

i am a football and lacrosse player plus i ski race. the isl distance is not a big deal. exeter and deerfield are close to three hours apart. i think the same is true of the distance from sps to st georges but the rest of the isl schools are closer than exeter's opponents. middlesex, groton, governors, and lawrence are all about an hour away for example. most of the schools are either north or west of boston:

Independent School League (Boston Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

paleozoic

Good grief, somebody turns down what are arguably the best schools ( SPS. Deerfield Hotchkiss) in the world because of third hand rumors he heard about sleep deprivation? Judging from my own experience, my teenaged kids all seemed to suffer from sleeping sickness at home while having boundless energy for socializing. At SPS two of them carried full programmes i.e., six or seven credits at an honors level plus sport and music, did rather well, loved the place and had the best years of their lives. The one on about 9 hours sleep, the other on about seven. Jeez Louise, they are teenagers thirsting for life, sleeping is for old people like their grandparents. As for half of the school being in the infirmary for sleep deprivation. Odd never to have heard of this over the years my kids were at the school. Maybe the kids were more robust 3 years ago, sounds like a fish story to me.

Princess'Dad

The sleep consultant at SP stated that high school kids should have 9 hours and 20 minutes of sleep.
Paleozoic, you should ask and you shall learn instead of sprouting. You should also read the medical books on the harm of kids not getting enough sleep. SP, DF, PE and PA all feel that it is important enough that they are changing. The point is that the competitiveness (forced on them by fellow students, the school and esp the parents) is large that they are forced to drink tons of coke, coffee, etc to stay awake.

Hockey, my guide thought the clinic nap was great and stated she used it every day. As that is my "business", I asked to see the clinics at each school and the RN at SP stated they were "naping".

"arguably the best schools" based on??? Not on success after graduation from college which is probably the best measure of all.

Princess'Dad

ps
amphetamine abuse is still prominent at alot of these schools. At one of the "top" schools, our tour guide had all of the physical exam characteristics of being on speed (pin-point pupils, excess salivation, rapid slurred speech, tremor, etc). I even mentioned it to the Dean who stated that they did have a problem with that as well as excess coffee, etc.

nhfootballer

wow. this has gotten off track.

paleozoic

I suppose it must be a generational thing. Old dad (paleozoic) sprouts grey hair, young princess'Dad spouts wisdom on child rearing. Anyway, with five teenagers in the house at some point, two of whom went to SPS , all of whom somehow avoided becoming physical and psychological cripples due to my academic ambitions for them, the last thing I need is to bone up on the medical flavour of the month wrt the sleeping habits of teenagers. The point I was trying to make is that in my own experience with SPS which extends over a period of 10 years I NEVER heard of the infirmary being full of overwrought teenagers with sleep deprivation due to performance anxiety. As for SPS/Deerfield/Hotchkiss being among the best schools in the world. In my view, and it is confessedly aristocratic , the measure of a school is how it transmits the best in the culture and inspires its students to aspire to knowledge, graciousness, responsibility. Maybe it is not an educational ideal princess'Dad shares. Tant pis.

CKSABS

Thank you for your responses regarding travel and Saturday morning classes. I believe his concerns may be more perceived than real. (Although, I believe it is a real concern with Hotchkiss). Regarding Saturday classes, I think he feels that he just wants to crash at the end of the week (Friday), not study. He’s usually pretty exhausted…oops, I’m trying to stay away from the sleep discussion.

Actually, I forgot his biggest concern that you will likely be able to address. My son was enamored with Deerfield’s Koch Center for Science, Math & Technology. He sees SPS lack of a similar facility his biggest con. Are there plans to address this in the near future?

As for his choices, he was fortunate to be accepted to all the schools to which he applied. In the end, my husband and I did not believe he was ready for the boarding life. We had hoped the maturity (time management) switch would have gone off this year, but it didn’t happen. We are having him attend his current school for ninth next year and then repeat ninth in 2009-2010 (assuming he boards somewhere).

nhfootballer

re sps and science, i was told during my revisit in april that plans are in place to start building a new science center soon. the science center at deerfield and exeter are both impressive. i do not know how the nicer buildings improve the teaching of science but i think sps feels a need to keep up with its rivals.

Sadie2

CKSABS - sounds like you made a wise choice. In my opinion, assuming one has the smarts ( which obviously your son has ) time management skills are the most important criteria of all needed for success in a competitive school.
I'm curious though, why have him repeat 9th grade? Why not just apply for 10th grade? Any way,as a general rule, fourteen IS young to be living away for so much of the year. There are exceptions, but not everyone needs to be an exception. Lots of kids start BS at 10th for this reason.

hockeykid841

Yes they are in the process of building a 50 million dollar math and science center

nhfootballer

hockeykid, when will they start building the new science center?

Winterset

Wow! Off for the weekend, I return and see all sorts of negativism and terrors. Sleep has and always will be an issue for teenagers (someone should start a separate thread on JUST that subject). Teens at SPS do use the Health Center for naps to get out of classes. Nothing wrong with that. Surprise Holidays are used for the same reason. Sometimes there is too much to do and too much pressure. You need a break. SPS is hyperfocused on this concern, appropriately so. BUT some teens are frequent users and most others never need it. The entire school is NOT NAPPING. That is a naïve picture painted with way too broad a brush. If you are not prepared for class, it is an automatic ‘free pass’, no questions asked. Some may use this more than others. My son forced himself to get more sleep this spring because of varsity sports. Yes, that gave him less studying time. A decision he consciously made. Time management is a necessary skill. Most of these kids are incredibly bright and learn to use free time to get work done, where to study and select roommates that share their priorities. Others may find the load simply too much. Either they should attend a less challenging school or they should learn better time management (SPS will help them with this). Nothing wrong with either.

Success after graduation? That depends on a myriad of factors. SPS does an incredible job of PREPARING you for college. Only you (and luck) will determine your ultimate success after college (and define what success is!). Having said that, I was a scholarship student and retired at 39. I give SPS a goodly share of my credit, but I do not represent my form. I worked hard and was lucky. I hate to see this page dissolve (like others) into a hopeless discussion of what the best schools are. Let’s JUST DISCUSS SPS. It is a phenomenal place, but it’s not for everyone. I just spent the last five days at Harvard, that is not the best for everyone (I did not go there), may not be the best either, and not everyone there is “successful”.

Science Center: Yes, it will be completed (as I recall) in 2010-2011. But if that is a big issue, I will go check.

Saturday classes: I agree with Hockey Kid. If really worried, then row crew (), this year ALL races were at home (except the NEIRAs), but then SPS has the best course in New England (No one can argue that) so people like to row it. Cksabs, postponement sounded like a good decision. I went to SPS in 2nd form. I did stay back a year, mostly because I was a year younger that the private school kids. Look at average ages. There tends to be a difference. But ONLY permit a teen to go if they can handle it. There is freedom, there are choices, and there are amazing opportunities. Personally, I favor BS in 9th grade. It gives the teens a chance to settle in before that terrifying junior year.

Paleozoic, GREAT Comments. Ditto.