Persuasive Essay On Starting School Later

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

Most high school students go to sleep later than 12 AM due to homework, and they wake up early as 5:30 AM to study for a test. According to the National Institute of Health, 90 percent of American high school students are sleep deprived. It also reveals some shocking news that a whopping 20 percent are getting by on less than five hours per night. Students need homework, but they also need the right amount of time to finish it and get an adequate amount of sleep. Schools should start after 8:30 AM so that students can get the right amount of sleep they need.

This article by the National Sleep Foundation describes how adolescents today are not getting the recommended amount of sleep and in return do not perform appropriately or at their maximum level at school. Through different scientific studies it was discovered that adolescent NATURALLY fall asleep at 11 P.M. or later. One study looked at the melatonin secretion in patients and how it occurred later at night in adolescents. Through research the National Sleep Foundation has urged schools to synchronize school clock with student body clocks (If teens naturally fall asleep at 11 P.M. and require 9.5 hours of sleep, school should start approximately at 9:00-10:00 A.M., 1 to 3 hours after current SC school start times). This sources supports my claim to start school later and provides support research about the negative aspects of sleep deprivation in adolescents and the importance of reforming school start times

Have you ever been really tired when you wake up for school in the morning? Sleep is very important to all teens, or it should be. Young adults should have 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep every night, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), in Sarah McKibben’s article “Wake Up Calls”. Unfortunately, two-thirds of teens are getting less than 7 hours of sleep each night, according to the NSF’s chart. This is causing a large number of schools and scientists to think that schools should start later in the morning. I fiercely disagree with this. Schools should not start later because starting later for high schools would cause too many negative consequences.

As a result of a changing body and mind, adolescent sleep cycles have different needs than those of adults or younger children. As a matter of fact, Biologically, 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 11:00 pm (“Teens”). In addition to biological change in sleep patterns, teenagers also tend to have eccentric sleep cycles. Obtaining less than healthy hours of sleep during the school week and then catching up on their sleep on the weekends. Most teenagers during the school week, do not get the suggested amount of sleep. In fact, according to a recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, 80% of teenagers do not get the suggested amount of sleep of 9 hours on school nights (“School Start”). With changing bodies and minds, along with an increased amount of schoolwork and extracurricular activities, teenagers need more sleep than children of a younger age. Experts believe that moving back the start time of school for high school students will improve grades, test scores, and the overall health and personality of many students.

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

Parents and teachers constantly tell students that they should concentrate on school and homework, but how can they do so when they cannot focus? Most of the time this lack of focus is caused by sleep deprivation which is induced by school activities and work, both of which cannot be avoided. Schools expect students to wake up early, be lectured for 8 hours, and then stay up late with sports, music, and/or homework. These tired students with large workloads have risks to their bodies and minds. Allowing schools to start later would be beneficial to students’ health, safety, and academic performance.

Research shows that teens sleep cycles are naturally delayed (Should High School Start Later, 2013). About fifteen percent of high schools start at 8:30am or later and, forty percent of schools start earlier than 8:00 am (SiOWfa, 2014). The start times of schools are reducing the amount of sleep a student is receiving on school nights. Most teens start their day at 5:30-6:30 am to prepare for school, but if their natural bedtime is 11 pm or even midnight, they are getting only 6-7 hours of sleep! Remember that teens need at least 8 hours to function properly. To fix this issue schools will have to start later.

Sleep is very important and everyone needs it in order to start the day. CDC reports that an eight thirty a.m. start time would let teenagers to get the recommended eight point five to nine point five hours of sleep a night. This is important because students probably go to sleep around ten o’clock, which means they only get eight hours of sleep. Teens are at a very important stage of their growth and development. Because of this they need more sleep than adults. This means that kids need more sleep if they want to grow and develop. In more than forty states, at least seventy five percent of public schools start earlier than 8:30 a.m., according to the CDC’s report. This is significant because it means that 25 percent do start after 8:30, but also 75 percent do not start after 8:30 which is not very good.Sleep experts have found a shift in sleep cycles beginning in adolescence that

There may be some of you out there who simply believe, “Why don’t they just go to sleep earlier?” The truth is, that the biological clock in adolescents can change on average two hours from middle school into high school, which means that they are supposed to go to sleep at 11 and wake up at around 8 (“Teens Need”). This time frame is not taken into account in high school start times, which suggest adolescents going to sleep at 9 and waking up at 6. The time suggested by the schools goes against a high schooler 's biological clock, leaving most teens going to sleep around 11 and waking up at an average time of 5:30; a mere 6 ½ hours of sleep is achieved with this time frame, 3 hours less than what has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Maloney-Dunn). The American Academy of Pediatrics suggest a high school start time of 8:30 or later

The question, when should school start has become a very controversial topic over the course of the last few years. Many schools are considering changing school start times to a later time, or have already implemented later start times in middle and high schools. Parents, students, and educators have had mixed responses toward this change. Students are coming to school sleep deprived, and many people feel the answer to this is changing the schedules. Starting school later is not beneficial because many students will not be receiving any extra sleep and this change would only complicate schedules for sports and parents.

School start times have a great effect on student sleep deprivation because the early times throw off the student’s circadian clock also known as the internal body rhythm. The circadian clock secretes a hormone called melatonin that helps teens sleep (Ornes). Melatonin is active until approximately 8:30am where as many school start earlier than that at around 7:15am.

By the time Friday rolls around, I’m sitting in the majority of my classes focusing my half open eyes on the clock, just counting down the seconds until I can leave school and catch up on my rest. Even in first period, my focus is most definitely not on what equation Mr. Humbert is writing on the board, but rather on what I could be doing instead of sitting in math class. Sleeping. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful every day that I have the privilege of having an education. But, what is the point of me, along with many other half asleep teenagers, going to school and sitting there for eight hours a day, trying to retain information when I can barely remember if I brushed my teeth that morning?

“The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours (studies show that most teenagers need exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep)” states https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/sleep-in-adolescents which is a website that talks about teenagers and the amount of sleep they receive each night. Waking up early every morning will take a toll on a teenager, especially, since they have school five days a week, have after school activities, and they have to work on homework for hours on end. With the early start times of high schools all around the world, how do teens get the adequate amount of sleep they need? The answer is they don’t. “The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2015 showed that 73% of U.S. high school students get fewer than 8 hours of sleep on school nights, and 43% get 6 or fewer hours” says http://www.startschoollater.net/wake-up-calls-fast-facts.html which is a website that talks about the amount of sleep teens get, and the amount they