Should Montgomery County Public Schools Stick With Later Bell Times?
From morning until night, teenagers have to work relentlessly. Schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and maintaining a social life are just some of the many stressors in the life of a teenager. From the sound of this, it would seem almost as if teenagers have no time to sleep. In fact, this is partially true. Studies conducted by the Center for Advancing Health have shown that only about eight percent of high schoolers in the United States get the required amount of sleep to be deemed healthy. This is an exceptionally low number for an entire nation. Not getting enough sleep on average can be extremely detrimental to the wellbeing of a student and for a generation as
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In fact, Donna St. George claims that implementing this later school start time policy causes the district to face “budget shortfalls” when the county “[can] not afford [such] costly approaches,” in her op-ed “More Sleep for Teens, More Hardship for Parents As School Bell Times Change.” As a response to this, in the op-ed written by the Washington Post Editorial Board “Later School hours in Montgomery County Are Worth the Cost,” the Editorial Board calculates the numbers, and concludes that implementing these later start times will be from “$5.2 million [to] $5.85 million, respectively,” which is “not an insurmountable sum given the system’s $2 billion-plus budget.” From such a large budget, about five million dollars seems to be a small price to pay for the well being of high school students- a whole level of schooling. In fact, if the later school times are implemented, Montgomery County can receive a surplus of money from better standardized test results, as an effect of relaxed, refreshed, and less stressed out students who are actually healthier. Since better standardized test results means better funding, Montgomery County would be able to gain more money than it would spend, thus deeming the whole argument that the county cannot “afford” implementing such a highly expensive policy …show more content…
This is a highly important topic because the high schoolers of today are the future of tomorrow. A generation of sleep-deprived students are not the ones we want running the country. A generation of students who never got a chance to retain the information they had learnt in school due to the fact that they did not get enough are not the ones we want running our country. A generation of students who have developed sicknesses and diseases due to being sleep-deprived are not the ones we want running our country. Montgomery County is ranked as one of the highest in public schooling in the United States. We do not want the students who can be arguably said to be the best in the nation to be coming out of high school as tired without learning anything. Thus, a later bell time would cause a much healthier and happier generation with more successful schools. We must determine whether the future will hold success or not reaching the highest potential it can - to answer this question, we must start with the health and achievement of the student- which can be brought back to the amount of sleep the student is receiving.After all, the children of today are the future of tomorrow- we must choose wisely how we desire to shape them in the face of
Main Challenges at Bayou High School Bayou High School is one of three high schools in an independent school district of 20,000. Bayou High School is the oldest high school in the district, and at one time served a predominately upper middle class population. Over the past two decades, the face of the community surrounding Bayou High School has changed. The number of lower income housing units has increased, the minority population has increased, and the unemployment rate continues to rise. The changing demographics of the Bayou High School community are reflective of the Bayou High School student body population (Stader, 2006).
East Brooklyn Community High School is a small transfer school located in Brownsville. The school has a small staff and a small population of students compared to most high schools in New York City. The history department has four teacher, Ron the Global Europe and Global Asia teacher, Ariela the Global Middle East, Global Latin America and Caribbean and Economics teacher, Jimmy the SPED teacher who helps out in all the history classes and myself Dominique the US History and Government teacher. Together we are a tight unit that spreads the love of history to our students. As a department every week, we check in on student performance, lesson study projects, and regent preparation for students in addition to weekly lesson approaches. Sometimes if we have time during our meetings we help, each other map out upcoming units. As a department, we observe each other classes to learn different strategies of teaching content and literacy.
Sleep! That wonderful, blissful void between last night and this morning. Sleep is one of the most basic functions of life. Nearly all creatures must sleep in order to properly carry out tasks; teenagers are no exception. The typical teenager needs an average of nine to ten hours of sleep a night in order for their brains to be capable of working at full capacity. School starts so early that they infringe upon that basic necessity. In order for teens to receive an adequate amount of sleep, it is mandatory to enact later start times for high schools across the country.
How many times has this happened to you; it’s six thirty on a Tuesday morning, your alarm has already gone off twice, your still laying in bed and your bus comes in twenty minutes. This is an everyday occurrence at my house. It is a proven statistic that the average high school student does not get enough sleep. While some experts like Dr. Lee Yanku say “It is not the schools starting time that is the problem as to why students don’t get enough sleep, it is because of facebook, myspace and cell phones” The truth behind it is that we can’t budget sports, homework and extracurricular activities into one day and still get nine hours of sleep. This is hurting student’s academic averages and needs to change. Changing the school time will help boost academic averages among students, and isn’t th...
Also, students will be up later finishing homework and socializing on their phones with friends. Although schools will now have been adjusted to fit with students sleep cycles, that does not mean that the students will actually get more sleep. Also, people do not think of the consequences such as conflicts with transportation.
Were you aware that teens tend to have irregular sleeping patterns that can harm their body and the way it functions? When it comes to sleep, teens are inclined to stay up very late during the week and wake up very early in the morning. On the weekends, they seem to gravitate more towards waking up very late to catch up on the sleep that they missed earlier in the week. Now that you know what the causes of having irregular sleeping patterns can do to a teenager’s body, you will be able to see the positive and negative effects of what not having enough sleep can do to one’s self. These facts will be explored through the articles “Should Schools Start Later” by Justin O’Neill and “Why Schools Should Start Later in the Morning” by Emily Richmond.
Studies conducted over a nearly 30 year span have consistently shown only a small fraction of adolescents get the 9 or more hours of sleep they require to function at their best. While teenagers are notorious for causing their own sleep difficulties, sleep loss among adolescents is confined primarily to school nights. “Sleep deprivation is epidemic among adolescents, with potentially serious impacts on mental and physical health, safety, and learning. Most teenagers undergo a biological shift to a later sleep-wake cycle, which can make early school start times particularly challenging.” says
It’s seven thirty in the morning, the time that most American high schools begin class. Instead of being chipper and ready to learn, most teenagers, at this time of the morning, can barely remain awake. These puffy eyed pupils are by no means ready to learn. Sixty percent children under 18 reported being sleepy during the day, with another fifteen percent reporting that they had fallen asleep during the school day within the past year (National Sleep Foundation, Dozing). Though adolescents require a larger amount of sleep than younger children, they usually receive much less (Indiana University Center for Adolescent Studies). The amount of sleep a teenager receives affects him or her both physically and mentally. Sleep deprived teenagers are more likely to be irritable, be depressed, not perform up to their capabilities in school, and have a decreased ability to handle complex tasks (National Parent Information Network). Though teenage sleep deprivation is a big problem, some simple solutions such as rescheduling the school day to fit teenagers’ biological needs, setting consistent sleep schedules, and teaching children the importance of proper sleep habits can easily remedy this problem.
Teens spend most of their day at school but are unable to fulfill their learning opportunities because of little or no sleep.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, biological sleep patterns change throughout the stages of adolescence. ¨Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence-meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11:00pm.¨ (¨Teens and Sleep¨). Messing with these sleep cycles in the long run and lead to sleep disorders. Research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests teenagers 13-18 years old should regularly sleep 8-10 hours each night for a healthy sleep. The teens who do not get a good amount of sleep are more likely to suffer from mental conditions, smoking, illicit drugs, and alcohol use. ¨Not getting enough sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks including being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs, as well as poor academic performance.¨ (¨Schools Start Too Early¨). On an NBC news story, Hilton Head Island High School moved its start time and benefits were noticeable. Students had higher test score averages and grades improved throughout the school.A study done in 2008 published in the journal of clinical sleep, found car accident rates fell by 16.5% when students were more aware on the road, not having to wake up before 7 am.
“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!” The teenage student slams on the snooze button and struggles to get out of bed for the early school day. Teens on average need 9 ¼ hours of sleep (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Teens currently average fewer than 7 hours of sleep (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Hectic schedules, poor sleep habits, homework, and family obligations are the problem (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Schools are considering starting their school days later in the morning. For example, one Minneapolis school considered pushing back their start time from 7:15 to 8:30. Another Seattle school considers pushing back the school day start reported Jean Enersen. Would this benefit the students or harm the students? Is this for the better or for the worse? These are questions many superintendents and school board members are asking themselves. They all want to do what is best for their students, so the topic takes a lot of thinking, planning, and conversations. School starting later can be a very controversial issue.
Lack of sleep of teens is not caused by choice. Many teens do not choose to stay up late at night because they are out or having fun. The body has circadian rhythms. “These rhythms are generated internally and develop without any social or environmental cues. Adolescents experience a natural circadian phase delay and, therefore, tend to stay up later and sleep in later than in preadolescents” (Final Report Summary, 2001). The opening and closing schedules of schools are not based on these rhythms but are based on the business world and what is best for it. “School schedules should be adapted to the unique needs of different sub-populations of pupils. The administrator must not bear the sole responsibility for planning class schedules” (...
Sleep is a fundamental need for everyone who needs sleep. Sleep is as important as eating food and drinking fluids. But teenagers are the ones seen not getting enough sleep at night. It is proven that teenagers get the minimum hours of sleep than any other age group. Teenagers are seen getting about five hours or less of sleep each night. Lack of sleep can affect many thing in a negative way. Sleep deprivation can affect things such as abilities to learn, listen, pay attention, and drive. It can also affect someone's mental health and physical health.
Teens need about 9 to 10 hours of sleep each night to function best. Most teens do not get enough sleep. One study found that 85% students didn’t get enough sleep on school nights.
Fifty six percent of students report being tired throughout the school day, which can lead to missed information and confusion (Wysong). According to this statistic, over half the students in class are not going to achieve their maximum learning potential in school. In order to avoid this problem, a teenager's brain typically needs to sleep from 11:00 pm to 8:00 am (“High schools starting later to help sleepy teens”). However, most high schools require students to be in class as early as 7:15 or 7:30 am. As a result, many adolescents simply do not have the opportunity to get enough rest. Changing the traditional school time to start later in the day will benefit adolescent sleep cycles, promote learning, and prevent disease by regulating the body. Ideally,...