Should High School Start Later Essay

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Has it ever been hard to work late at night or to finish homework, an essay, or study for a test, and it’s exhausting the next day? Many states all over the U.S. are changing their school start times to a later time in the morning. Changing schools to a later time has been proven extremely beneficial, but there are also conflicts, such as work and parent’s schedules. Data has been proven by Children’s National “Rise and Shine” that high school should start later in the morning. It’s very hard for teenagers to go to school early in the morning. Many high schoolers have jobs and participate in sports and other clubs or activities, and 8 a.m. is too early for hard-working teens. It’s even harder to wake up in the morning when it’s cold, dark, …show more content…

is too early for a bleary-eyed teen.” California was the first state to require all schools to have a later school start time. California, Florida, and other states have now started requiring later start times. The minimum of these start times is 8:30 a.m. Alaska, New York, New Jersey, and Tennessee have started doing half and half late start times for school. A half-and-half late start time provides the state’s school districts the opportunity to start earlier or later. Brandwein says “Out of 16 different states, if they start later or earlier, the majority said schools would start later.” Younger children are not as sleepy as teenagers in the morning. They are more awake and curious than older children and teens. “Elementary school should start at 8 and middle and high schools should start at 9.” (Klein) Most teenagers don’t fall asleep before 10:45 p.m. and their brains don't turn off sleep mode until 8am. Wahlstorm has performed many studies and has learned that most teenagers' brains take quite a while to wake up in the morning. Teens also need 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep each …show more content…

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says schools are recommended to start at 8:30.” Many people are looking at the negative impacts of these changes. They are saying kids will stay up later or they will not want to go to school the next day. No matter what, students are most likely not going to want to go to school anyway. The major issue is a huge shift that affects parents, teachers, students, local businesses, day care, and more. Now that school starts later, getting kids to school or helping them get up early can be a lot trickier. Some jobs and businesses have realized school is being pushed back and they are starting later as well, providing the chance for everyone to get a little extra sleep. More people are reporting the positives. Parents are noticing teens are happier. Around 92% say it's easier to live with their kids. Later school has proven to decrease teen crashes by 13%. With this new adjustment, there is now an opportunity to wake up a little earlier at a realistic time to get other things done, such as homework. 1st hour classes are getting better attendance, by almost

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