Because their circadian rhythms cycle later than adults, asking teens to get up at 6 a.m. is like asking adults to get up at 4 a.m. ... every single day. And disrupting REM sleep (the part of sleep that comes at the end of your night's sleep ... so the part teens are disrupting when they go to school) leads to very serious emotional and physical disruption, disease, and breakdown. No wonder teens act the way they do and have social, emotional, and cognitive challenges. We're not doing them any favors.

Oh, and just bumping school back to 9 a.m. has been shown to lead to 200+ extra points on the SAT test, on average. It really is a big deal.