Jet Lag At Exeter
By AARYAN AGARWAL’27 , AARYAN PATEL’27, and KEVIN THANT’27
Students at our school hail from all over the world. In fact, it is a statistic that Exeter displays with pride on its website in big, bold letters. Geographical diversity is supposed to be a hallmark of the Exeter experience. Truthfully, though, the picture is painted in a masking manner. International students live a much different reality than it may seem. Along with the glamor of a far-reaching institution come many dark truths. Being far from home, struggling to keep in touch with culture, and a long list of other issues permeate the experience of these students. Sadly, they are the kinds of things that are there, but no one really notices. Jet lag is one of the most pervasive of these.
With the recent fall and winter breaks at Exeter, international students have been thrashed with a constant cycle of travel. Due to the strain and costly fares, many opt to stay close to campus, sometimes not being able to travel back to see family. This is another problem in itself. Students who do travel home, though, can face days of grueling travel with delayed flights and missing baggage. Then, of course, the difference in time leaves them tired and fatigued when arriving home and when coming back on campus.
Currently, the Academy does not offer any structured solution for students who face the difficulties of jet lag. Rather than adjustments such as a time period before classes resume to allow students to recover, the only option offered is a stay in the health center. Furthermore, this is all on top of students diving straight into a physically and mentally rigorous schedule.
Though students do have the option to go to the health center, it isn’t a very plausible one. Spending time in the health center doesn’t help very much other than excusing absences, but missing class only presents piling on work for later. Jet lag is often seen as a domino effect, where even a few hours at the health center can lead to late work and lagging behind others in grasping the material. These students are stuck in a rock and a hard place: either they suffer from sleep deprivation, struggle to stay awake in class, or they sacrifice their academic performance. Knowing Exonians, it is natural for them to select the former.
Students at our school hail from all over the world. In fact, it is a statistic that Exeter displays with pride on its website in big, bold letters. Geographical diversity is supposed to be a hallmark of the Exeter experience. Truthfully, though, the picture is painted in a masking manner. International students live a much different reality than it may seem. Along with the glamor of a far-reaching institution come many dark truths. Being far from home, struggling to keep in touch with culture, and a long list of other issues permeate the experience of these students. Sadly, they are the kinds of things that are there, but no one really notices. Jet lag is one of the most pervasive of these.
With the recent fall and winter breaks at Exeter, international students have been thrashed with a constant cycle of travel. Due to the strain and costly fares, many opt to stay close to campus, sometimes not being able to travel back to see family. This is another problem in itself. Students who do travel home, though, can face days of grueling travel with delayed flights and missing baggage. Then, of course, the difference in time leaves them tired and fatigued when arriving home and when coming back on campus.
Currently, the Academy does not offer any structured solution for students who face the difficulties of jet lag. Rather than adjustments such as a time period before classes resume to allow students to recover, the only option offered is a stay in the health center. Furthermore, this is all on top of students diving straight into a physically and mentally rigorous schedule.
Though students do have the option to go to the health center, it isn’t a very plausible one. Spending time in the health center doesn’t help very much other than excusing absences, but missing class only presents piling on work for later. Jet lag is often seen as a domino effect, where even a few hours at the health center can lead to late work and lagging behind others in grasping the material. These students are stuck in a rock and a hard place: either they suffer from sleep deprivation, struggle to stay awake in class, or they sacrifice their academic performance. Knowing Exonians, it is natural for them to select the former.
Students, without thought, will prioritize their schoolwork over their own health. They won’t just suffer from fatigue but will find themselves avoiding social interactions, forgetting nutrition, and falling into loneliness. They will likely spend nights on end awake at 3 a.m. in their rooms alone, studying. By lunchtime, they feel as though they are merely walking around campus and attending classes, with their attention and consciousness absent. These extreme effects may only last for a week, but they ripple as far as the end of the term.
This is also not to mention the fact that the students had literally faced the same issues just a couple of weeks prior. When arriving home to their families, they dealt with the same difference in time zones. When they finally adjust to being back home, they are immediately put back on a flight to Exeter. This constant back-and-forth is obviously unhealthy for the already brutal sleeping habits of students.
Although all students facing jet lag feel these difficulties, a lack of a concrete and widely accepted plan for teachers, coaches, and other instructors on how to handle these cases. For example, some teachers may be more lenient in giving extensions for assignments or offering assistance outside of class. Similarly, different coaches or extracurricular instructors may enforce different policies on the repercussions of missing practice, such as not playing in the next game or performance.
However, a standardized set of rules on how to assist students in their classes, sports, or extracurricular activities also raises the concern of not being fair to all students. For example, if a jet-lagged student gets an extension on a paper or assignment, it may be seen as an unfair advantage compared to other students who have a sooner due date. Obviously, jet lag has some effect on the student’s performance and thus validates such an extension. However, at the same time, jet lag is very case-by-case, where some students may face a more extreme effect while others only feel it mildly.
Furthermore, oftentimes, jet lag does not mean that students have less time to work; rather, their schedule is altered, and the time they can work does not align with their real schedules. These two variables uncover the possible unfairness in granting jet-lagged students extensions. Therefore, these things, like extensions, must be handled case-by-case, which once again involves bias, which was meant to be eliminated by this set of rules. Due to this paradox, the only viable option that is fair to all students at the Academy is to provide assistance in overcoming jet lag before classes and activities resume.
Overall, although Exeter boasts a great diversity of international students, it neglects to address a common and major issue: jet lag. It is crucial for the Academy to set a period of time dedicated to allowing international students facing jet lag after each break in which they can re-adjust to Academy life. This approach would also eliminate any bias in how adults on campus respond in regard to assignments and missed appointments.
