Hi from Germany here I have had to for the largest part of my School life grt up at 6:15 so i could be in school at 8:00 then i often had school until 15-17 and had to do homewerk after aswell. Only in my 11th to 13th grade did it relax a bit because I changed schools and also got better due to redoing some of the basics. And mind you in germany Extra Curriculars are not realy necessary.

It’s been a while, but when I was in high school, I was up at 6:30 so that I could run through the shower, get to 7AM jazz band late, be at school until 4ish, then off to my minimum-ish wage job until it was time to go to evening jazz/symphony/other bands. Home at 8 or 9; bullshit some homework for a passable grade; and then do it again (I was often doing homework during band practices). Weekends were music events.

I did not go to a top tier school, and I did not live in a top tier place. The stories I’ve heard from others indicates to me that my experience was not unique. I wasn’t even the most busy of the people I knew.

This wasn’t every single day, but it was more on days than off days. Contrarily, I had a great time in college because the pressure of classes actually felt like less than I was doing in high school.

> My neighborhood and social circle have a number of high school age children, some aiming for high ranking universities.

> None of them have these grueling 15 hour day schedules you’re describing.

Hate to break it to you mate but none of them are getting in. Anyone who lives in a neighborhood with a high proportion of kids making it to the Ivy league and other top schools knows exactly what this guy is talking about. If you think it's a fib just because you're not aware of it that's not exactly robust social commentary.

> I don’t even know of a high school around me that starts at 7:30AM.

Within 30 minutes in each direction this was the normal start time for practically all high schools in my area growing up. Where I live now my niece who I occasionally drive to school when weather is bad starts at 7:30. We need to leave her house by 6:45 to make it on time with traffic.

The reason for the absurd starting times was always explained that bussing schedules forced it. They did not want to start grade school so early, and the same busses ran routes for both. One or the other had to start 60-90 minutes before the other.

I’d sleep in my clothes and try to make it out the door to be at my bus stop by 6:40 every morning. Luckily I had a really great bus driver who knew where I’d live and if I was running late would stop outside my house and honk.

You spent the entire morning extremely tired and a lot of kids slept through study hall or classes. The early study hall was coveted for this reason - additional time to sleep.

This was pretty much every bog standard public or private (think catholic schools) high school in the area.

I had this same schedule at a mediocre school in small town USA in the 80s. The AP science course started at 7:30am to give us time for lab work (e.g. dissection in biology). After school activities continued until 4:30, longer if it’s an away game. Homework, part-time job, one off events. It didn’t feel overwhelming at the time, but kids today are soft.

> I don’t even know of a high school around me that starts at 7:30AM.

Local high school runs 7:30 to 2:30. It's one of the better scoring high schools in the state, so we have some students who commute 45min-1hour to attend here (at least I had friends who did that when I went there).

When I was younger I lived in Albuquerque, and I believe that high school started at 7am, they had staggered start times of 9am for elementary, 8am for middle school, and 7am for high school.

For the 7.30 start, its possible its a 0 period class( class before school starts, what a blast these were) and they start earlier then the rest of the student body.

My middle school circa 2004 in CT started at 7:30am. Similarly I was on swim team and we started practice around 5:30am in a Seattle suburb.

This was my high school experience and many people I knew.

* School at 7am

* Sports practice after school. Game days were basically all night events.

* might take an hour or two break

* 2 to 3 hours of homework

For junior and senior year, I worked 16 hours on the weekends as well.

My public high school started at 7:10 a.m.; I assume it was to accommodate bus schedules.

A previous grade school my kids attended (a public school in Calgary) started at 8. They left the house at 7:40ish to go, which was pretty awful.

Eventually we wound up home schooling / remote schooling during Covid and moved to a spot where the school started much later.

Frankly though, not late enough. I let them sleep until 10 during COVID and I feel it was positive for everyone involved.

The OP is describing my experience. (Result: deferred from MIT, so it was somewhat for nought.)

I think magnet school and/or outside school /rec-league sports can easily bring that 15h number.

Overall I think you are right it is indeed bubble and once one is in, it is difficult to see not everyone is doing that.

I have a friend in town both husband, wife work from home and extremely busy with their elementary/middle school kids school/activities that I haven't seen him in years.

Being out of their bubble I only know whats happening but don't get to be tutored in how all these activities are essential. And even rare back out once in a while can be serious digression that affects child's future.

I guess then it's good to be a D1-level athlete? (for everybody else, that's basically being a state champ in whatever sport)

> I don’t even know of a high school around me that starts at 7:30AM.

My high school had us in the building and starting homeroom at 7:30AM, back in ~2003-2007, and that was in upstate NY for a B+ student with nothing special going on.

I was at school from 6:45 AM to about 4:30 PM every day, and had extracurriculars and homework on top of that. This wasn't considered an extra stressful or difficult schedule, it was just what you did.