High School Should Start Later Than Elementary School

About 40 percent of American high schools start classes before 8 a.m., and more than 20 percent of middle schools start at 7:45 a.m. or earlier. Studies show that starting school later-even by half an hour- has major health and academic benefits. Some people say that pushing for late school starts is unacceptable while the majority of other state later school start times are exceptional. School starts should be pushed back because kids are more energized, and receive health benefits.

In “High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens” by Michelle Trudeau and “High Schools Will Keep Starting Too Early.Here’s why.” by Dan Weissman they both have their own perspectives on life about school starting times and the problems they may bring to the students of high schools.In Michelle Trudeau’s story she says that the starting times for high schools has many students still very drowsy and tired most of the time having them nod off during school instruction.She states that in an average high school 20% of students fall asleep in class on a typical day.Therefore, in need to prevent this from happening teens need more sleep as opposed to them not getting enough sleep from either staying up late or period as some experts say.There are many ways to add additional support for teens and their sleep.

It is a well known fact that teenagers in general need more sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation: “[teenage sleep] is as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage stress of being a teen.” When schools start as early as 7 o’clock, it puts students health at risk. Adolescents already have a natural shift in their internal body clock, or circadian rhythm when it comes to sleep. Puberty allows this to happen, causing a “sleep phase delay” of about two hours. When teens can't fall asleep until late and school starts so early, they aren't getting nearly enough sleep. Lack of such, according to CDC, makes the individual

Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation. Research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity. Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance and health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night, and most report feeling tired during the day (Nationwide Childrens, 2003). The root of the problem is early school start times.

Some people may ask, “Why don’t teenagers just go to bed earlier, instead of having school later?” This is a common concern for parents and teachers as well. The fact is, adolescents have different sleeping patterns than adults do. Throughout the day, teenagers are most tired during the morning, and most alert at night (Cerve 4). “The body’s internal clock shifts after puberty, making it

High Schools should begin later in the day to accommodate for students to get the natural sleep they really need.

School start times play a very big role in a student’s overall development, especially when they aren’t getting enough sleep because of it. An important factor to consider for a student’s development is the act of sleeping; that a lack of it can cause serious problems to the students’ growing body. According to research done with Brown University’s Julie Boergers, the author of the letter “Benefits of later school start times”, the amount of sleep that adolescents need ranges from 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep. Only 17 percent of these students

Opponents of a later high school start time argue that teenagers won’t really get more sleep, they’ll just stay up later instead.  Students have activities and homework after school, and the later start time would just push it later into the night.  In “Controversy Over School Start Times,” journalist Laura VanDemark, a staff writer for Mainstream said that a survey from the April 15, 2013 meeting of the Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association general assembly showed that, “only 43% of students believed that a later start time would allow them to get more sleep”(VanDemark).  To elaborate, if less than half of the students thought they wouldn’t get more sleep with a later start time, then they probably wouldn’t in reality either. Though it is a valid point, students’ internal clocks, or their

High school students should have a later starting time in school due to students not getting the amount of sleep they need to function. Students that stay up late at night are way too tired to learn when they get to school early in the morning. Most students who do stay up late are unable to sleep due to melatonin not yet being produced. This shows that starting school at a later time would have many positive benefits. These benefits include higher test scores, increased attendance, more participation from students, and higher performance from athletes.

Lack of sleep can lead teenagers to gain weight, become depressed or engage in risky activities (i.e. drugs, alcohol) and can lead to poor school performance overall (CDC). These consequences are not the only problem with teenagers losing sleep because of school work. During teenage years, an individual’s biological clock causes them to want to go to sleep later in the morning due to various hormones in their bodies. Students aren’t naturally supposed to wake up early, yet in 42 states the majority of school’s start before 8:30 A.M (CDC), but

With early school start times, students tend not to have enough sleep. National Sleep Foundation and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend an eight to ten-hour sleep, which is sufficient. However, 69 percent of the students in the United States sleep less than eight hours per night, which is insufficient. It affects students negatively through health, behaviors, and grades. The lack of sleep promotes students to become sleepy, defenseless, and lead to the inability to concentrate, which may cause injuries and lack of knowledge in school. This dilemma has been around for years and years in the United States. Schools should start later to avoid this dilemma because it provides students with more time to sleep and an efficient work-and-rest

Today I am here to talk about why high school students should start school later. The problem is high school children being too tried and some falling asleep in class. This is such a big problem since children are learning less and sleeping more in their first class of the day in high schools across the country. If we deiced to start school later for high school students it might reduce the amount of kid falling asleep in class. Here are a couple of points to back up my opinion.

High school involves a lot of beneficial aspects including providing education to kids to prepare them for college, providing a social environment, and creating a structured schedule. Although, studies are showing that there is one aspect of high school that could be hurting students, more than helping; the start time is too early. Many states in the U.S. are catching onto how harmful it is for students to have a lack of sleep, and only recently are changes being made. Lack of sleep can lead to obesity, depression, car accidents and an overall lower quality of life (Richmond). All high schools need to be making the change to a later start time to give these students the rest they need.

We live in an age when many growing adolescents are constantly fighting their natural body clocks. It could potentially be one of the biggest issues facing our high school systems. Many school’s across America have started to push back their school start times. Is it worth it? The answer is yes. School should start later in order to unlock our nation’s high school potential.

Research has supported the idea that teenagers need just as much sleep as little children do, which is around nine hours of sleep, or ten hours of sleep a night (Carroll, Aaron E.). The American Academy of Pediatrics issued that idea of schools starting after eight thirty in the morning (“Should Schools Starts Later”). Sleep is usually mistaken as an option by adolescents, when in reality it is a need, and without the proper amount, students will suffer. Our brain cannot go without sleep, without sleep, our brain is not as alert as it should be. Researchers have found that when young adults go through puberty, they cannot go to sleep early. An adolescent’s sleep schedule is delayed to later in the evening which means that they should be allowed to get up later in the morning (“The Other Big Deficit”). High school arrival times should be later because students will be more capable of obtaining information, they will perform better academically, and will live healthier lifestyles (“Why you should”).