For Pete's Sake--Get Some Sleep!

Yesterday after a student repeatedly fell asleep in our class (and after we had lost patience with kindly awakening him), we finally had to ask him to leave and go take a nap elsewhere. Convinced that our scintillating teaching style is not at fault, we wonder why so many students are snoozing through classes these days.

The Chronicle of Higher Education's News Blog has reported on recent studies which suggest students really do need their sleep, albeit not necessarily during class time:

Pulling an all-nighter may get a paper done, but the time-honored practice hurts students, according to two recent studies. Students who burned the midnight oil at St. Lawrence University had lower GPA’s, and night owls on the women’s basketball team at Stanford University were slower and missed more shots, USA Today reported.

But colleges are doing more to help their students rest easy, the article said. The University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Maryland at College Park are giving workshops on sleep disorders; Rice University has a campaign for a regular bedtime; and Duke University offers stressed-out students an “Oasis” with ample windows, a fountain, and a massage chair. [emphasis and links added]