> if you were forced to wake up at 5:30 AM to get on a bus
I know this is an American thing, in the UK high school for me started at 0845, which meant leaving home about 0820, so getting up about 0800. Still way to early, but at least it's not in the middle of the night.
I don't understand how a school day would even work with a 6:30 start. When's lunch?
I haven't seen a single American kid who could get ready for school (eat breakfast, get dressed, etc) in 20 minutes. I believe you that it's different in the UK, but in the US you need to budget at least an hour for this.
Then, when I was a child I'd spend about 45 minutes to an hour on the bus, which would normally arrive at the school about 30 minutes before start time as a buffer in case things were slow. This was decades ago, but my understanding is it hasn't changed that much.
School actually started at around 8:00, but we still had to wake up before 6:00 in order to get there on time.
I haven’t been to school in decades but basically, the bus arrives when it arrives, maybe 30-45 minutes before school starts, and you want to be at the stop early for obvious reasons. It gets a little less stupid once you’re old enough to drive yourself, if you have a car or can carpool. But no way would a 20 minute commute be assumed.
UK average commute for high school is 25 minutes, and 3.4 miles [0], but a 30-40 minute doesn't sound awful on a bus, means leaving home 0800 so getting up 0740.
I've posted this before, but first bell was at 7:18, bus was at 6:30. I had it luckier in that I lived ~1 mile from school, but lived in an area where you couldn't safely walk. There were students that lived ~15 miles from school whose buses arrived ~5:45 to be able to make the 7:18 bell.
20 minutes from alarm clock to getting on the bus is unrealistic by an extremely wide margin. High school students typically shower, eat breakfast and get dressed at the very least.
I never had breakfast as a high school kid (still don't). 5 minutes for a shower, 5 more to get dressed and pick up bag, that leaves 10 minutes to get to bus stop.
I know this is an American thing, in the UK high school for me started at 0845, which meant leaving home about 0820, so getting up about 0800. Still way to early, but at least it's not in the middle of the night.
I don't understand how a school day would even work with a 6:30 start. When's lunch?