[elliekelly]

I used to tutor at a Boys & Girls Club in a very low-income area in Massachusetts. The way they assign students to schools is weird (at least to me, I didn’t grow up here). Students need to apply, even to public schools, and they’re offered spots through some combination of lottery, location, and grades/test scores. One of the girls I tutored went to a school that was pretty far away from her home - something like a 90 minute bus ride thanks to traffic. When I asked her about how she ended up at a school so far away she casually explained that her parents had to be at work early so she had to go to a school where she’d get on the bus as early as possible. It broke my heart.

[mattmanser]

I had a 70-80 minute bus ride every day for 7 years, while pretty annoying, I wouldn't call it "heart-breaking". You did homework, read books, listened to music, etc. It was just a thing you did.

As a kid, it just was.

[Wowfunhappy]

Sure, and I’m glad that worked out for you! But for the population at large, lots of research suggests that early wake up times are detrimental to student outcomes as a population.