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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Let’s Sleep On It
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Do you think it would be safe to say that I’m the first Internet blogger who’s ever live-blogged during jury duty? I’m sitting in the juror holding room at the Fulton County courthouse right now looking at row upon row of my fellow citizens — almost all of whom have bored, frustrated, unhappy or tired faces.
Perhaps not surprisingly, some prospective jurors are sleeping, or at least trying to by contorting their bodies to fit the government-issued armchairs.
This scene actually made me think of a subject I’ve long wanted to write about: Sleeping in class.
I’ve had two distinct experiences in recent years that prompted me to wonder whether there was an increase in the number of students who — intentionally or not — drift off mid-lesson.
First, I visited an SAT prep class at Fulton’s North Springs High School where not one, but several students put their heads down on their desks and closed their eyes during the test review. The teacher never attempted to wake or scold the students, who clearly were not involved in their class work.
The second time was during a regional seminar I was giving for high school journalists, which took place in Fayette County. My presentation was the first session of the day and a couple students — despite my enthusiastic lecture — simply weren’t awake. One boy seated in a back corner was so drowsy he could barely keep his eyes open.
I wondered if he had the flu.
So relieve my civic duty-induced boredom today and please tell me: Is there an epidemic of sleeping students these days or what?
