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    Are you feeling sleepy in class? I remember that I used to get up at eight when I was young. And we used not to do homework. But now, everything has changed.

    For 12-year-old Liu Xiangjian, the most difficult thing in life is getting up at 5:50 a.m. every school day.

    "I don't want to get up so early, but I used to be afraid of being late," the six-grade Beijing primary school student said, "I want more sleep."

    Liu has breakfast at 6:15 a.m., and after a 30-minute bus ride, arrives at school at 7 a.m. Like most of his 28 classmates, Liu arrives at school a full hour before lessons start at 8 a.m.

    In 2007, a survey of 2500 schoolchildren in six cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, it was found that about 77% students were short of sleep.

    In a recent survey made by the China Daily website, almost 70% of the 1,130 respondents（调查对象） said that they agreed with cutting school hours, while 20% disagreed and 10% had no comment.

    Although their children spend long hours at school, many parents arrange（安排） for them to take more studies.

    Liu's mother, Wang Qunyu, who teaches at a high school in Beijing, thinks her son is still not doing enough to win a place at a good quality（质量） high school.

    "Of course I want my son to have more sleep, more exercise and more fun,' she said, "but the common saying is that if you give your child a happy childhood in China, you give him failed future."

    Something must be done to change people's traditional thought that a college diploma（毕业证）is a ticket to a good job.