Persuasive Essay: Should The School Day Be Longer?

Schools all around the nation have starting times for school, that are too early for the students and teachers alike. Schools starting times should be 8:30 in the morning or later, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sleep loss has become more common in children due to early start times which only gives them 6-7 hours of sleep a night when growing children should have 8-9 hours a night. children suffer the chronic loss of sleep due to the hormonal roller coaster that you call puberty, which only lets them begin to go into a REM sleep around 10 p.m. . It’s also been proven that adolescent children suffer from highers risks of physical health problems, mental health problems, lower test scores, missing school, substance abuse, and being in a car crash due to sleep deprivation. Students end up having to get up before 6:30 to get ready and catch the bus or walk to school, but when you have to study for hours after school, eat, clean up, participate in extracurricular activities, including sports and clubs, and do chores in less than 4 hours to get the sleep they require to be healthy mentally and physically it’s almost impossible. School should start later to better our future generations, with more sleep we could have more positive members of societies.

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.

Both longer school days and regular (6.5 - 7 hour) school days have benefits and disadvantages. The Readworks article “Time To Think” discusses both pro’s and con’s about both sides of the argument. Such as, longer school days can cut into after school activities like sports and family time. With regular school days teachers might argue they don’t have enough time to teach students the lesson. While comparing both sides of the argument it appeared that longer school days and regular school days both have the kids’ interests in mind and either way the students will still have a good education.

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.

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.

The Board of Education wants to add hours to the school schedule. The problem proposed is American student’ test scores are falling behind counties in Europe and Asia. To see how more time in school will affect students and test scores, schools in Iowa, North Carolina, and California have increased the time some students spend in class. Some parents and faculty members think extending the school year into the summer could help American students compete academically with other countries, but the school year should not be extended because summer is needed for academic respite, the extension will cost millions, and there is not enough evidence to say that it can boost academic achievement.

Some people might say teachers having a longer school day could give teachers more time on harder subjects but, teachers have less time to prepare. Teachers need this planning for quality learning. Also Dennis Hamel says,”Teachers worry they don't have time to work with students who are falling behind.” His article also says,”But extending a school day will not alone guarantee positive results. Other ways to help students, teachers, and families are needed.” This will not improve test scores alone because students need quality time instead of

We all strive for higher scores in school. A four-day week may provide just that. Students have more time on school days, giving them the opportunity to learn more each and every hour they spend in their classrooms. Even teachers have more time to learn from their peers about their lessons and ways of teaching, so they can improve it to fit their students. A four-day school week may provide higher quality resources, as there are only four days to use them. It saves the school financially in times of low budgets, and that unscheduled day saves at least 1.5% more than schools who stick to the regular five-day week. The mediocre quality of supplies gradually decreases as more weeks spent as a four-day week slowly increase. Students with four-day school weeks had proven themselves they deserved that schedule with their academic scores, which have increased throughout the year. They have better attendance, because they have more time for extracurricular activities and appointments outside of school. A four-day school week may be just what we need.

Recess By Teddy #6 Imagine that you just got to the playground at recess. You quickly start a game of tag, and what feels like thirty seconds later, are already lining up to go back to class. Nobody was even tagged!

    With these long school days children don’t have much time to go out and be a kid.  By the time children get home and finish all their homework, there really isn’t much time for sports or spending time with friends and family. Long hours of school put too much pressure on students.  According to the state, students are supposed to have three and a half hours of homework a night. Students are assigned about 17 hours of homework a week. There is a total of 168 hours in a week and 64 of those hours are taken from us by school and homework.  Out of the 24 hours in a day school, homework, and sleep take 18 hours, which leaves students with just 6 hours to do things.  Combine that with sports and after school activities, the average practice for most sports are 2 to 3 hours, which leaves the student with only 3 hours for themselves. If you add dinner into the equation which can take up to an hour ,then students only have two hours a day. Some students also have chores which can take up to an hour or even sometimes more.  What can a student do with only 1 hour of time a day for their personal goals.

If an hour and half of school were added every day, students would miss after school activities. Students will miss the fun extracurricular activities. and students won’t get the exercise they need.

How would it sound if school weeks were only four days long and, in doing that, it saved your school money at the same time? Well, for some rural schools across the nation, this has become a reality. Four day school weeks are becoming a necessity for some rural school districts that lack funding. It provides a realistic way for schools to remain open and also has added benefits beyond saving money. Four day school weeks may not be a realistic situation for all schools throughout the nation, but for those that it is possible, the four day school week saves money, improves test scores, and further improves the school as a whole.

According to a report from the New York City district, a school that received funds for longer days fared better on standardized tests. This school had seven percent more students scoring at or above grade level in reading, when two other schools had increases of five and six percent. In math, three percent of students scored at or above grade level in a school with a longer day, compared with one percent for a low performing school and an average of one percent for other schools (Brett 1). This information is one example of many studies that illustrate that long school days have a great positive impact on school performance. The main school goals are improving students’ knowledge and building different skills that will help them in the future. Therefore, if longer school days support these educational goals, people should be concerned about improving schools by lengthening the day.

Thomas Decker once said, “Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” School. There’s a lot of things people can say about it. Mostly they’re arguments about school such as should school have trimester or semesters? Or maybe school should be year round rather than having a summer break. However, out of all those, one in particular caught my eye. Should school start later? Now me being a student myself, this was very enticing. Being able to sleep more and have a full night's rest would be delightful. I, myself, believe that school starting later would be beneficial for school and the kids going to school. It would have its pros and cons, but it would be an overall positive impact to everyone.

Having shorter school day could benefit students outside of school. On debate.org struggling students could find tutors after school to work with them. By doing so everyone would be on the same page. Also after school students would have time to join clubs that they’re interested in. If we have a shorter school day students would get their homework done faster at home. An expert opinion says that “Students would get home earlier and get homework done faster. They would have a lot of time for other activities,play sports,or even join an after school