Dangerous biases to support cultural practices

My daughter had some research on the Internet to find some information about sleep requirements for elementary school aged children.  Conventional knowledge in the us says 8-10 hours of sleep is required for elementary school students.  I helped my daughter find out the information on the Japanese side of the Internet and yes, according to research in Japan, the ideal amount of sleep is 8 hours and 54 minutes. Kind of interesting how exact they were, 54 minutes?  Oh well, they were on par with conventional wisdom with the west.

 Just to satisfy my curiosity I did a search for Junior High School times.  I was shocked, SHOCKED!!!  Get this, according to another Japanese site, Junior HS students require 6-8 hours of sleep.  Did you see that SIX HOURS is the low end.  For a medical professional, any medical professional to support the idea a 13-15 year old only need a minimum of 6 hours of sleep a day is CRAZY!!!  But, when you see the culture and how much homework Jr. high schools give their students, it would be counter cultural to state the ACTUAL needs.  That age group is in high gear of their physical development and need 8.5 - 10 hours of sleep.  Any less stunts growth both physically and mentally. 

If a Japanese doctor came out and actually stated the truth he would set off an out cry from the department of education because that revelation would require that they require schools to reduce the amount of homework so they can sleep more.  But, knowing Japanese schools, they would comply on the surface, but then have "VOLUNTEER" study sessions or something like that.  And again, if you know Japan, you know that "VOLUNTEER" actually means "REQUIRED". This also shows me how little the administration cares for the health of the youth of Japan.  How far ahead of the educational/academic curve would Japan be if only they allowed their students to get more sleep. 

The Japanese education system is slowly killing off their most coveted resource, their students.  All in the name of "Prestige".  Shame on you Japan!!!!  SHAME ON YOU!!!