Insomnia’s newest recruits: red week and white week

Photo by Max Linton

Not getting much sleep? The new schedule is probably why. 

Starting the 2023-2024 school year off, Middlesex has implemented a new schedule including two alternating weeks: red week and white week. Designed to have longer classes and fewer meetings per week, the new schedule strives to have students do less homework per class every night. Conceptually, it sounds great. Less work, less classes, what more could you want? Well, sleep. 

Out of the 10 students I interviewed, 8 said that on average they are getting less sleep per night than last year, and spend more time doing homework. One senior notes that they spend far more time doing homework during the school day than after, as with classes and athletics commitments ending later in the day, they find it hard to make time in the evenings to study. They also state that although they started off this year taking six courses, they had to drop one because they found the workload so overwhelming as students taking an extra class only have 4 free blocks during the week, most of which are then taken up by advisory meetings and other academic commitments. Although they prefer the new schedule in terms of how much time they have during the school day now that they take 5 classes, they still spend more time on average doing homework, have far less free time in the afternoons, and get less sleep. 

In general, however, they prefer the new schedule as they find that with taking 5 classes they have ample time during the day to do work. A junior who takes 6 classes has more negative sentiments about the new schedule, as they lament they have zero free time during the school day. With advisor meetings and tutoring for the SAT taking up their double block frees, the student only has two 40-minute blocks every week that they are able to do work during the day. Because they are also taking a fall sport, they state that the limited time due to a longer school day has led to minimal sleep, and they feel as though the new schedule has stripped them of their free time completely. 

Although some students find the new schedule gives them increased time during the day for studying, there is still a lot of pressure for students taking more than 5 classes, as 3 of the 10 students interviewed said they dropped a course at the start of the school year because of the time commitment alone. The fact that students are dropping courses they could be genuinely interested in solely because of the stress the new schedule puts on an individual’s ability to finish work at an acceptable hour is worth further investigating. 

So, how can we improve? Making athletics closer to the school day would allow students to have a larger continuous block of time to do work in the evening, rather than giving athletes an awkward amount of time between classes and practices. Furthermore, because so many students taking extra classes find they have so little time with the fewer blocks per week, perhaps there could be an additional alternating class meeting per week so that once in a while kids taking extra classes are able to have more than 2 free blocks per week. 

Although many students are still getting used to managing their time with the new schedule, many students recognize the helpful changes it has implemented, like designated space for clubs and chapel chorus, as well as more structured meeting times. However, sometimes going out of your way to plan activities is good, as it pushes students to be more independent, and helps them discover what they truly want to spend their time doing. At the end of the day–even if that day doesn't end with 8 hours of sleep–change is good, and we're sure Dr. Schaeberle will have a new schedule cooked up by next year. 

Catherine Bain