By Madison Hoang ‘23
The beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year at St. Mark's has been anything but ordinary: faculty and students alike have found themselves either picking up from the remote learning battle once again - having just ended just 3 months ago - or only just stepping into the chaos and confusion for the first time this fall. While remote learning may have only imposed a slight shift towards the standard 8-4 schedule for most domestic St. Markers, it is an unusually different experience for those who've opted to attend their studies from as far as halfway across the world, where distant time zones can mean as great as an 11, 12 or 13 hour difference. On top of the social and technological challenges presented by remote learning itself, international students face even more obscure, less obvious boundaries, which, for many, have caused a huge shift in their overall lifestyle, including their ability to perform in school and maintain their well-being.
For many international remote learners, classes begin in the evenings, and students are excused after 11:30pm. This year, St. Mark's has implemented ‘evening blocks' to its schedule, in order to better accommodate international students for missed afternoon classes. These blocks usually begin from 7:30am and onwards in Eastern Asia. Lily Luo, a 6th former connecting 1 hour ahead of St. Mark’s time, describes her usual work day: “I wake up around 9 to catch my morning class, do homework . . . I sleep around 1 or 2am.” In China, which is 12 hours ahead, Coco Xia a III former experiences a drastically different schedule: “I sometimes get up early to ask questions during evening blocks in the US, and then in the morning I finish the assignments that are due by noon, and I watch the recording videos of some of my classes. My afternoons are mostly free, so I spend time more flexibly. I have remote learning on Zoom starting at 8 p.m. and ending at 1:30 a.m. or 3 a.m. I’m considering getting more sleep during the day.” Due to inverse time zones, students work during the day and attend classes at night. The regular sleep schedule of most international students seems to consist of waking up early in the morning and staying up late for classes.
When asked about their thoughts on the current schedule and its effects on their lifestyle, students expressed mixed reactions. Coco pointed out that it has given her more time in the afternoons to catch up on leisurely activities. But she, along with students like Mandy Hui from the 4th form, express that maintaining a sleep schedule is hard because of the restrictive nature of the dismissal times and evening blocks. According to school guidelines, dismissal for all begins as late as 11:30pm, and ends as early as 7:30am. But evening block times vary according to respective time zones, putting some international students at an advantage over others. For many in Asia, these ‘evening blocks’ can begin as early as 7:30am. Therefore, distant remote learners have to wake up early in the mornings to attend missed classes, resulting in as few as 6 or 7 hours of sleep on some nights. Though this schedule was designed with the intentions to ease communications between teachers and students, this has also imposed negative effects on international learners' sleeping habits and overall well-being.
So how can teachers better accommodate students in distant time zones, and how can distant learners overcome their remote learning challenges? Unfortunately, there is no easy solution, due to the wide variety of time zones where international students reside. But for many, late bedtimes and early classes are an ill-suited combination, so teachers are encouraged to try their best in facilitating more effective communication with their international students - keeping in mind that many remote learners may often shy away from being the first to reach out. On the other hand, students should also reciprocate these efforts and communicate with their teachers, by being transparent about any challenges they face with early wake up times and late classes, while also trying their best to go to sleep before 12am and getting at least 8 hours of rest each night. But until daylight savings goes into effect on November 1st - which pushes international students' morning classes back by an hour - the best that learners and teachers can do is try their best to take charge with their own communication and time-management abilities.