This is pretty common everywhere. It’s stupid, IMO, and school should start later, but waiting for the school bus and going to school in the dark is very common all across the country.
I am team DST all year. I do not like the 4am sunrise in summer!
I think DST for the whole country would be a good thing. There are some areas next to the time zone changes that would feel the effects more, so if a community is on the western edge of the time zone, especially up north, then you might feel that later sunrise in winter on year round DST more than you would in Atlanta or LA, but on the other hand, if you are on the eastern edge of the time zone like Bangor ME you might be excited about sunset being later than 4pm in winter.
And really, if you live up north the swing in the daylight hours is part of the deal. The Midnight Sun is part of the charm of summers in Alaska, right? Flip side is the cold dark winter.
I leave for school at 6:45am. Many buses are already on the road at that time. In Dec, morning twilight starts at 6:45am on Dec 7th and only gets later after that (solstice doesn’t change morning daylight to getting earlier for a couple of weeks, then there’s a lot to catch up before it’s back to light when I leave). This is in PA, so northern states are even later with getting daylight.
We’re already starting out in the dark - and I can’t recall a single problem with it in my 20 years of teaching in my district.
Like many people, kids tend to prefer to have daylight in the afternoon/evening when they can enjoy it.
Personally I think it’s criminal to start a regular school day at 7 am. It was bad enough that our high school had a zero period for things like the extra orchestra which started then. (And my younger son participated in it.)
When the kids were in elementary school and had to write a paper or debate an issue, we always suggested daylight savings time! can there be any more polarizing issue?
They were just talking about this on The Today Show this morning. They tried permanent DST in the 1970s, and after a couple months, public support plummeted. People hated it. And they ended the news story with the old saying, “be careful what you wish for”
If I had to choose, I would choose standard time. I go to bed by 9pm…not great when it’s broad daylight out and I want to have the window open with a fan.
Obviously, everyone will have their own personal preferences based on their own lifestyles. This country is so divided already, maybe it would just be better to keep it the same.
But that has got to be on the early side for going to bed. Just because you are an outlier and like an early bedtime does not mean the rest of us need to have it be dark in the summer at 9pm! That’s a you problem not an us problem. Me, I hate mornings, well specifically getting up early, but I recognize that is a me problem and plenty of other people are morning people and enjoy that. I would guess the average American gets up at 6am and goes to bed at 11pm since we all seem to be short on sleep. – Dang it now I’m going to have to go down the rabbit hole and see if I can confirm or deny my hypothesis –
It is never going to be Standard time all the time, y’all. That just is not on the table so forget that. It will either be DST all the time (again it’s already that way for 3/4ths of the year) or it will stay the way it is.
The bill allows states currently with standard time only (HI and AZ, at least the non-Navajo parts) to choose either the old standard time (what they have now) or the new standard time (current daylight time).
Right, I read that. I just meant I would be shocked if the entire country went back to Standard Time all the time. I think that is just beyond highly unlikely, but states that already don’t switch to DST, sure. They are basically letting them pick their time zone.
Where I live in the summer it gets dark at 8. I believe the latest sunset is 8:23. If we go to standard time it will be dark at the latest 7:23 and that’s the longest day of the year. Mostly we would be dark by 7 or even 6:30 later in August. Absolutely Not. Seasonal affective disorder would strike me August through June. No thank you.
I agree that going to bed at nine is early and sounds like an easier problem for her. Turn out the lights and get black out curtains and have at it. I need my light in the evenings.
In the winter on the shortest days we are dark by 4:30. Yuck.
I sure hope HI picks the one that will reduce the time zone disparity. Having 2 instead of 3 hours difference between HI and West Coast and 5 instead of 6 hours for East Coast is better for conferencing remotely.
can there be any more polarizing issue?