Lights out is a rite of passage here at Kent. Most of the student body has lived with it at some point or other. At 10:30pm, all under formers must go to bed.

However, one wonders whether such a measure is necessary.  The rule that all the under form students should be asleep at 10:30pm and the notion that teachers should enforce this rule perplex certain members of our community. With this in mind, should Kent still have lights out?

The main motive behind lights out is to instill healthy sleeping habits in the younger students. According to Lori Braislin, the head nurse, “the average adolescent needs eight to ten hours of sleep. They need their rest period to continue to grow.” However, when we sleep is our decision and no one else’s.

Danni Le Quang ’18 believes that lights out should not exist because “[10:30pm] is too early.” He added, “A lot of students have afternoon activities and practices that go on for long periods of time. They don’t have enough time to do their homework.”

Some students simply can’t finish all their work by 10:30pm and have to make a choice between their grades and the amount of sleep they get. Under formers who stay up are forced to work under bed sheets in the dark, keeping one eye on their work and the other on the door. The result is ineffective studying and thus even less sleep.

Lights out should be removed for the under formers because it is impossible to enforce and can even deprive students of sleep. Students should be trusted to be self-reliant enough to make good decisions about when to turn the lights off and call it a day.