Part A[ | ]
Why students feel tired:
Possible factors/reasons:
- Most students who feel tired at school tend to sleep very late at night. Thus, they are deprived of sleep.
Cases/Reasons:
1. They play video games using computers, phones or game consoles overnight. Some may even play games until they have to go to school in the morning.
2. They spend too much time on leisure/extra-curricular activities after school, including sport, leaving little time each day to do assignments. As a result, they have to stay up late/burn the midnight oil to finish their homework.
3. Burden of schoolwork: They have too many assignments that require a lot of time and effort.
4. Burden of competitions: Students may be joining too many contests and competitions, which add to their burden of homework.
5. Responsibilities at school: They may have leading posts of clubs at school. Therefore, they need to spend a lot of time on the preparation work of activities.
Whether or not a 9.00 am start will solve the problem:
Case 1: No.
These students obsessed with video games will probably only play more, especially for those who allocate almost all their time for sleep to play games.
Case 2: Yes.
Extra-curricular activities only last a few hours. If students do sport for longer periods of time, they will suffer from muscle fatigue and start to feel pain as too much lactate is produced and accumulated. Therefore, there is little chance students who actively take part in extra-curricular activities and who have a passion for sports, will spend more time on them. This means they won’t have to stay up late doing homework.
Case 3: Yes.
A postponed start to the school day means they have more time to finish their assignments. They may no longer need to burn the midnight oil.
Case 4: Yes/No
Yes: A postponed start to the school day means they have more time to finish their assignments. They may no longer need to burn the midnight oil.
No: They will only spend more time preparing for the competitions, leaving little time for rest.
Case 5: Yes
A postponed start to the school day means they have more time to finish their assignments. They may no longer need to burn the midnight oil.
- Key tips
Structure of the letter to the editor:
Dear Editor,
I would like to express my agreement/disagreement to the suggestion/point of view expressed in a recent article in the Young Post that an 8:00 am start to the school day makes students tired and sleepy.
(If you are in favour of the suggestion)The reason why students feel tired at school must be clarified.....
Therefore, I strongly believe an 8:00 am start to the school day is/is not the major cause of the fatigue of students.
Yours faithfully , (DO NOT USE “Yours sincerely”!)
Chris Wong
Related topic(s): Letter to the editor