Should Schools Start Later? Many high school students, including myself, do not get enough sleep. The idea of sleeping in sounds like the best thing ever, especially after those late night study sessions. Often times, teenagers are not able to sleep in late because of school or work schedules. There are many side effects of sleep deprivation, but proven benefits of starting days later. Sleep deprivation is a major problem among today’s youth. Only 15% of youth reported getting more than 8.5 hours of sleep on a school night. Teens tend to stay up and sleep in late on weekends, disrupting the natural sleep cycle. This makes it harder to sleep during the week. This can cause a variety of sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, insomnia, sleep apnea, among other things.
Out of 18,000 public schools, the average start time of school is 7:59 am. Out of these 18,000 schools, 1,000 of them have pushed back start times. A big reason more schools have not pushed back start times is transportation. It is difficult to run bus schedules to accommodate everyone’s schedule. Schools with large districts reuse the same buses to save money, but this means one age group will get picked up early and another age group will be picked up later. In the schools that have pushed back starting times, studies show that there is less tardiness, higher grade point averages in the morning classes, and less car crashes involving teens. Students that attend these later start schools come more awake, attentive and prepared for the day. In 1999, Representative Zoe Lofgren introduced the congressional resolution ZZZs to As to congress. This resolution encourages schools to push back start times to at least 8:30 to better align with the biological make up of teens and the normal adult work schedule. This resolution was made into legislation in 2014, but unfortunately died in
Why Schools Should Continue Starting at Eight Despite popular opinion, to be beneficial, schools should continue on their current schedules, and not start later. Starting schools later can have a variety of positive and negative consequences on students. Schools currently are at a time that gives students enough lesson time to learn subjects, but still have time to relax and take part in other activities after school. Many families depend on the time school starts to have easy transportation to school and work. Starting schools later will take away students time to do activities of their choice such as spend time with their families, socialize with others, and participate in extracurricular activities.
Studies have suggested that the average adolescent brain doesn’t even start to fully function until around 9:30 am. Many schools already use the suggested later arrival time, so students can be ready to learn when they arrive at school. Another thing that everyone knows or remembers about high school, school is all. of the homework that needs to be done for tomorrow. Plus projects that are due.
In order to avoid sleep deprivation, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is vital for teenagers. Compared to opposing age groups, teenagers are most easily affected by inconsistent sleep habits (National Sleep Foundation, Adapt). The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) reports that, “For the adolescent’s circadian clock to stay on track, it is essential that teens remain on schedule…(National Sleep Foundation, Adapt).” The NSF also recommends that teens only stay up one hour later on weekends than they would duri...
Teens spend most of their day at school but are unable to fulfill their learning opportunities because of little or no sleep.
(Teens4) Work schedules for teens are also a contributing factor. Teens who work more than fifteen hours a week after school and on the weekends have less time for sleep. Teens typically stay up late and sleep in late on weekends which can affect the quality of their sleep. “If parents and teens know what good sleep entails and the benefits of making and sticking to a plan that supports good sleep, then they might re-examine what they think ‘essential activities’ truly are” (Teens5). Sleep deprivation can affect the way the brain functions during the day when teenagers are need of it the
The alarm beeps again sounding like a fire alarm going off. School starts before 8am. Using your fingers to hold open your eyes and dragging your feet, you get in the car and drive yourself to school. Will you even be able to make it through your day? School days for teens start to early. Teens aren't getting the sleep recommended for a healthy start to their day. Later start times for middle and high schools are proven to benefit both students and teachers.
High schools should not start later because it will make transportation difficult. Starting later would be extremely expensive for schools. The bus schedules for districts rely on the early morning opening bells, and making just a little change for the school bus schedule can cost the school a lot of money. In an article, Stop Starting School Days So Early Doctors Say, “Many school districts start high schools and
Many students will say if school started later they will show significant improvements in school performance. In the article “5 Pons and Cons of Later school start times” it’s states that If school started later students would make significant improvements in school performance. Many School districts that experimented with later start times found that students coped with academic workloads much better. Also a study on University of Minnesota found that grades, test scores and overall performance in core subjects advanced significantly when school start times were switched to later hours. So if school districts experimented with later start times and it helped students coped with academic workloads then why aren't we doing later start times. Plus the University of Minnesota said that grades, test scores and overall performance is better when schools started later. If
Grades begin to decline and they are stressed beyond the unthinkable trying to fit everything into their schedule, but it is not possible. Studies done by Finley Edwards show a huge difference in academic improvements and standardized testing between early and late school start times. In Wake county, North Carolina, they changed the start time to 8:30 instead of 7:30 and percentile scores in math went up two points, while scores in reading went up by one percentile point. Then he did three different start times, the latest one being at 9:15 and percentile points went up by about three. (Edwards, 2,
We are all too familiar with that dreadful screech of the alarm clock in the morning but for high school students across America the rooster crows at a ridiculous hour. High school students groggily stumble out of bed only to underperform academically due to a severe lack of sleep. In my case, particularly, I had to be present in my first class promptly at 7:24 AM. For many in similar situations to myself this means waking up at 6 AM just to have time to get prepared for a treacherous day of school running on abysmal hours of sleep. Brookwood High School needs to reevaluate their schedules and push back the beginning of the school day no earlier than 8:30 AM.
In addition to that, kids are having to walk to the bus station or having to drive to school in the dark while sleep deprived. Drowsy driving increases along with the risk of injury while walking to the bus stop tired and unaware of your surroundings (Start School Later Inc 1). School should start at a reasonable time such as 9:00 am in order for each kid to get a decent amount of sleep per night. It is a proven fact that after schools have changed their starting time to a later hour, they have noticed the teenagers academic and athletic life improve. In this series of facts, it is proven that changing the school starting time, can increase test scores and also regulates safety,“When Jackson Hole High School in Wyoming shifted its start time to
Don't you hate waking up early for school in the morning? Most high school students wake up before the sun rises just to become ready for school. Teenage brains do not begin to function that early considering many are tired from staying up late the previous night. The National Sleep Foundation reported that most teens do not retain enough shuteye, one study found that only 15% reported sleeping eight 1/2 hours on school nights. That fact was extremely true for me when I attended high school. I barely was able to wake up, get dressed, and be in school on time since I was so tired. In my opinion school days should start later, precisely in between 9- 10 o'clock. If the school day started later attendance would improve, students will be more prepared, and student's attitudes and grades may improve.
Many Things that teens do in their daily lives prevent them from getting sleep. To start off, the majority of teens use their phones during late hours. Their phones give off blue light, which sends signals to the brain that it is still daytime, and delays the sleep process. Added to that, they get a lot of homework to do, along with many extra-curricular activities. When this occurs, they don’t even begin trying to sleep until later into the night. Staying up later could be better if you could compensate your sleeping time by waking up later, but with schools starting earlier and earlier as time goes by, that is impossible. With school and activities making it difficult, it is no surprise that students are lacking sleep.
Should school start at 7:00 or should it start later in the morning? In Douglas High School, start times are at 7:30 in the morning. Changing the school schedule to a later start time would result in many other changes affecting a lot of people. According to the Sleep Foundation, "The change will affect the entire community, from students and parents to businesses, libraries, police, youth sports clubs, bus drivers and many others." Altering the school schedule would influence numerous aspects of people’s lives. Highly coordinated routines would have to be changed and adapted to the new schedule. A later release time would take time off of students’ free time in the afternoon. Clubs, sports, jobs, and other after-school activities would have
Teens tend to have irregular sleep patterns across the week. They typically stay up late on the weekends, which can affect their biological clocks and hurt the quality of their sleep.