Persuasive Essay On School Start Time

Over 87% of teenagers don’t get enough sleep and go to school tired. Teenagers have constant expectations to live up to, but with the amount of sleep they’re getting it can be seemingly impossible. The question has been brought up time and time again, should the school day start later? Because of the risks of not getting enough sleep, trying to keep up with their their busy schedules, and being in their adolescent years, having the school day start later would help teenagers around the world immensely.

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.

Staying up until 1am to finish math homework and studying for that huge history test next class is pretty routine for some teens. Juggling school, sports, a social life, and other extracurriculars is tough, and teens are already in a critical period in their life. It is the time period in which teens grow and learn the most, and sets them up for a bright future. Staying healthy both mentally and physically is imperative, and sleep is probably the most important. Schools starting as early as 7am limits a teen’s potential. If schools were to start later, the benefits would be endless. Schools starting later improves both physical and mental health of students, keeps the individual and those around them safer, and improves students performance in school and sports.

Every morning students in the United States feel the effects the early start time many schools have implemented. These students are lethargic and inattentive, due to the lack of sleep they are getting every night. Typically, adults see these characteristics as the result of teenagers staying up late watching Netflix or using their cell phones. Many reputable organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have researched this problem and found that teenagers are lacking in sleep due to biological and physiological changes that are occurring within their brains. These shifts cause students to be more inattentive and reckless, resulting in lower grades, tardiness, and higher rates of car

One of the biggest struggles for students today, is the struggle to wake up for school in the mornings, and to make it to class on time. Because of the start times that many high and middle schools currently have, students are having to get up early to get ready, therefore providing them with little sleep at night. They are faced with their everyday schedules, things that are happening in other parts of their lives, as well as having to keep up with their schoolwork. All of this results in a loss of sleep, with the added factor of having to wake up early in the mornings. Having a later start time for schools is beneficial for student’s health, safety, and their overall performance in school.

The primary reason for attending school is for adolescents to get an education in hopes of getting a good job.  Attendance, test scores, and GPA’s all play an important role in a student’s success in school, and if they can all be improved by pushing the start time back, then this issue should be pushed further.  The root problem of students not performing to their full potential has to do with the inability to focus from drowsiness in class due to the lack of sleep they are getting.  To support this point, Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and his team, “found that students showed up for morning classes seriously sleep-deprived and that the 7:20 a.m. start time required them to be awake during hours that ran contrary to their internal clocks” (Richmond).  In other words, Carskadon believes that current high school start times go against teens’ natural sleep patterns, making them be awake at a time where their bodies aren’t ready to get up yet.  This causes concentration issues making paying attention in class harder, and kids not getting the best grades they can.  Also, sleep won’t get any

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.

School start time Most schools throughout the country start classes between 7:25-8:25 Am. Depending on students ages, schools start at different times. Schools should start at a later times because students would be able to get more sleep, focus more, and students wouldn’t fall asleep as often in class. To begin with, if schools start at later times students will be able to get more sleep during the night.

Secondly, school starting at a later time is beneficial academically. Most teens don’t get enough sleep which causes them to feel sleep deprived and stressed for school. Teens usually get six to seven hours of sleep but Dr. Cora Breuner says, “ We truly believe that our teenagers are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night, and they need eight to 10 (Shute).” This causes teens exhausted for the school and not mentally or physically prepared for each class in school. However, teens who get more sleep do better academically, with better standardized scores and a better quality living style (Shute). For example through one studies, showing the delay by an hour in start time, increases standardized test scores by roughly 3 percentile points (Edwards). So academically it is beneficial for the kids in school.

Would you like to see school start at a later time, or not? Megan Reilly, chief financial officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District, has estimated that boosting attendance by just 1% district wide would bring in an additional $40 million per year.

If school started later it would reduce dropout rates, give students time to eat healthy breakfasts, and improve moods. Later start times reduced tardiness, and truancy. For example, since students have to wake up at such an early time, a study showed that, “ Starting the school day at a later time improved school attendance. “ When students sleep adequately, they are less sluggish in

The national sleep epidemic that has taken the world by storm is also taking a toll in not only teen’s health but also their performance in school as well as personal safety. The sleep deprivation that teens are experiencing everyday has caused many health problems as well as academic problems. I believe starting school later will hinder this ever growing teen sleep deprivation problem we face today. Letting teens sleep later is beneficial to their learning capacity as their heightened alertness improved their classroom performance as well as better memory and many other crucial achievements. So probably starting school later, but no later than eight thirty am, will lead students to perform better in school and their health will improve drastically.

A big reason school’s may enjoy having a later start time, is because it can contribute to the school’s success. A later start time can improve the school’s overall test scores (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). Students can learn their best when they are not tired or drowsy. The School Start Later — Healthy Hours campaign stated that, “Academic improvements have been shown, and overall school climate has been measurably improved when high schools have restored later start times,” (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). The sleep researcher mentioned earlier, Wendy Troxel, said in her presentation that when kid’s are woken up by an alarm, they are literally robbed of their dreams. Dreams are associated with learning development. In order for student’s to use the most of their brains, they need to be receiving the right amount of good quality sleep. Not only do test scores rise, but so does the graduation rate, which is a major problem in today’s generation (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). In contribution to the student success, later start times could drastically improve the school’s success. Later start times have increased attendance around

It has been proven that schools that start later tend to have an increase of students who receive naturally higher standardized test scores, obtain higher grades, and earn higher grade point averages (GPAs). This is because later start times cause kids to be more alert and active during the day due to the body being well rested, which is improving their cognitive function. This is essential to learning (“California Academy” 8). According to California Academy of Sciences, “Students with symptoms of sleep disorders are more likely to receive poor grades in classes such as math, reading, and writing than peers without symptoms of sleep disorders.” As previously mentioned, adolescents who do not acquire much sleep might develop a form of sleep disorders, and it may hurt their academic performance. What is more, memory is also drastically impacted by how well rested one’s body is. It is imperative that the brain gets enough sleep, so it can process the day’s events and retain your memories. Web MD reads, “... sleep enhances memory, … helping them (students) to last for the long term (life).” It is believed that if a person has a good memory he/she is essentially “smarter” and can easily recall facts or concepts learned. There is a correlation between good memory and good academic performance (“California Academy” 10). People who do well in school tend to have good memories. Overall, many studies exhibit the impact of later school start times on academic performance, and they undoubtedly show that their students will have superior overall class grades, test scores, and

Everyone in America has to go to school at some point in their life. Most students in California attend school for 6 hours a day. In Adelanto,California students learn math,science language arts history, PE, and an elective during that time. Some students are struggling with this kind of schedule. I believe that students should not have an 8 hour school day to be successful.