“How many hours did you sleep last night?” This is a common question asked to students with drooping eyelids, slouched backs, and sluggish movements. As a matter of fact, this question recurs every morning regardless of the class subject. Usually, all classes consist of a couple sleep-deprived students, and their body language clearly indicates their lack of sleep.

Based on the past year and a quarter of high school experience, it’s reasonably evident that sleep deprivation is one of Chadwick’s main chronic diseases. In fact, the prevalence of this disease has gradually increased throughout the past few months and shown significant detrimental impacts on students’ daily lives: many find difficulties in concentrating and staying awake in class. 

Then, why is sleep deprivation such an unstoppable phenomenon in Chadwick International? To understand different student perspectives, Junwoo Lee, a sophomore at the Bell Tower Magazine, interviewed CI high school students about authentic experiences and genuine reasons for their sleep deprivation.

“How would you rate your sleep schedule out of ten in the past few weeks? Why?”

“I would rate my sleep schedule 7/10 because sometimes I get to sleep early when I don’t have summative to finish. However, I had one day with a lot of summative to finish that cut down my sleep time.” (Terry Pak, G9)

“I would rate it 5/10. I technically have adequate sleep in terms of amount, but the timing is usually unhealthy because large chunks of sleep come from naps after school. This ruins my sleep rhythm, so I usually go to sleep around 2-3am. The school has been busy, and with college applications due, I am under a lot of stress. As a result, my sleep quality hasn’t been the best.” (Jimin Park, G12)

What were your least hours of sleep recently? What caused it?

“The least I slept was 5 hours. This was primarily due to finishing summatives and other class assignments clumped up to one day.” (Terry Pak, G9)

“Recently, the least I slept was 4 hours, mainly because of multiple summatives stacked on top of each other.” (Alex Lee, G10)

“A little less than around 5 hours; I’m generally used to sleeping between 1-1:30. This is due to my one-hour ride to school.” (Sophie Kim, G11)

How prevalent do you think sleep deprivation is among Chadwick students? Do you think sleep deprivation in Chadwick is unavoidable?

“I think that the majority of CI students are concerned about their sleep hours because of summatives, academy homework, and other extracurricular activities they are participating in.” (Terry Pak, G9)

“I believe sleep deprivation is prevalent, but I don’t think it’s unavoidable; we sleep at a time we choose to. If you procrastinate, you can’t sleep.” (Sophie Kim, G11)

“I see sleep deprivation extremely common amongst Chadwick students. A lot of students tend to procrastinate; at times, I do too. Sleep deprivation is technically avoidable if students do not procrastinate and focus solely on schoolwork throughout the day. Well, this is difficult because that won’t support their mental well-being.” (Jimin Park, G12)

If you could go back in time, would you be able to manage more sleep?

“Even if I went back in time, I don’t think I could have had more sleep. There was fairly limited time to finish the assignments. Many summatives are in the form of projects or presentations that are quite time-consuming.” (Alex Lee, G10)

“I would organize my time wisely and divide the workload throughout multiple days. This will grant me more time for sleep and other tasks to do.” (Sophie Kim, G11)

“I don’t think my sleep hours would change. Although I’m sleep-deprived on some occasions, I’m satisfied with my current sleep schedule.” (Jimin Park, G12)

According to each grade representative’s accounts, it is evident that sleep deprivation is ubiquitous in all of high school. The universal cause for this phenomenon is shown to be academics. The lower grades find their greatest struggles with summatives and extracurricular activities, while the higher grades have additional burdens due to college applications. 

Another possible cause is the influence of Asian education. Despite being an international school, Chadwick International is located in South Korea and has many students from Asian backgrounds. It is inevitable that the school has been affected by the beliefs of Asian education that place emphasis on academic achievement. In an effort to adhere to the principles of Asian education, students are willing to stay up late to fulfill such standards.

Lack of sleep has become a norm at Chadwick International. It is fortunate that some are considering a better sleep schedule in the future, but it is not as simple as it seems: many obstacles and unprecedented circumstances clash with their ideal sleep management. Well, it’s better to struggle to figure out an effective plan than to maintain an unsuccessful sleep strategy.

Now that I failed this year’s sleep management, let me go take a better shot next year.