Time is a constant, overwhelming stress on everybody’s mind. From daylight savings time, to implementing a four day work week, saving time and money is a must.

Daylight Savings Time (DST)

    "Spring forward, fall back."

    Everybody knows that on daylight savings, somehow or another our time is shifted by an hour. We’ve gotten so accustomed to the process that we don’t even question it. To be exact, Benjamin Franklin conceived the idea in 1784, in order to use daylight more efficiently, but it was not until World War I in 1916 that it was actually put to work. A law to enact daylight savings was set on March 31, 1918. It lasted only about seven months as it was deemed unpopular since people woke up and went to sleep earlier than they do now. It wasn’t until World War II, that President Franklin Roosevelt decided to implement a year round DST and named it “War Time,” which was a bright idea to conserve energy resources used for war. Yet after the end of the war, the policy ended again.

    The past has held quite a shift in policies for daylight savings time and it wasn’t until Congress passed the “Uniform Act of 1966” that all DST confusion more or less ended. The act created a uniform system of time within the United States, and in 1972 it was amended so that if a state did not wish to participate in the DST they could simply pass a law to be excluded. It was amended once again in 1986, to have DST begin on the first Sunday of April at 2am, and ending on the last Sunday of October at 2am. DST has obviously been adopted worldwide and is currently utilized by about 70 countries. Japan, India, and China signify a portion of major industrialized countries that have chosen to not utilize the concept of DST.

    DST gives us an opportunity to make the most of our sunlight and save energy. Many studies have proven the savings in electricity costs by having sunlight last longer because people are at home less when it’s lighter outside as they are off doing more activities before dusk.  One household may have minimal efficiency savings, but when the savings between all households are added up, the total is large. DST even saves lives as the road is much safer during light hours preventing traffic injuries. Another advantage includes the decrease of crimes under DST.  As people are busily running more errands during the daylight, people’s exposures to crimes are seemingly reduced. The Department of Transportation estimated that 2,000 injuries were prevented, 50 lives were saved and about $28 million was saved in traffic accident costs yearly. All these are seemingly unbeatable benefits, but some argue that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. According to “Sleep Deficit, Fatal Accidents, and the Spring Shift to Daylight Savings Time,” Stanley Coren states that “there is a spring increase in accidents and no corresponding fall decrease in accidents following the DST shift…..and measures the increase in accidents at 17% immediately following the shift to DST.” Traffic accidents also increased about 8% after DST. Perhaps this is one reason for the inconsistencies regarding Daylight Savings Time in the past.

    On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush however, passed an energy bill that extended DST by four weeks beginning three weeks earlier and ending one week later. Also, the state of Indiana must use daylight savings time entirely because under prior laws, only certain parts of the state were under DST.

“I think it’s beneficial because it adjusts light to our time,” said senior Christina Poschl.

Four Day Work Week

    Miami Dade County teachers have been looking at the implementation of a four day week. Schools in other areas have already begun the process, with many reasons in doing so, including to save resources such as gas. Schools in northeastern Louisiana have already transitioned to the four day week, their reason being high gas prices needed to power their diesel fueled buses needed to transport children to and from school. Although teachers will not be losing any money from their salaries, employees such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and janitors will see a significant decrease. At Varela for instance, our cafeteria workers get paid in supplements; the more kids they serve, the more hours they work, which equals higher pay. Lately with the decrease of students eating at the cafeteria, 30 minutes have already been deducted from their hours. Edeth Rodriguez, one of our cafeteria workers, who has no children of her own worries more for what would happen to kids during a day of no school and  parents are out working even though her salary would be severely hurt.

    To be perfectly honest, I began writing this article before the tremendous decrease in gas prices. But gas prices aren’t the only advantage. According to the ‘National World Tribune,’ Ryan Wilson, a student at Bonners Ferry in Idaho said, “It’s way better. You go to school an extra hour, but you don’t go an extra day.”  Students revealed that they had more time to spend with friends, family, and many extracurricular activities were moved to Friday resulting in less interrupted classroom time.

    Everyone is pressed for time, and a four day week may or may not help the issue. Surveys have been sent out to teachers in Dade County with questions regarding the budget. Opposed to the new proposal is Ms. Minette Perez, Drama Teacher, who feels that “it would be really hard to do extra curricular activities that way. It’d be even more difficult than it already is.” Perhaps extra curricular participation would decrease severely.

Parents worry about the results of having their children stay home one more day of the week, claiming that it’s too much time for them to be home alone and day care needs would be too expensive. Yet, in Bonners Ferry, parents weren’t complaining. Having an hour more every day actually minimized their day care costs and the same district implemented a day care program for middle school kids to spend their Fridays.

    Those who oppose the possibility address the attention span of students. Could students really handle extra hours added on to already seemingly long schools hours? There are still many unanswered questions on the possible proposal, but don’t be too surprised if you hear more controversy in the near future.

    “I like it how it’s now, its nice,” said senior Nicole Lopez.