A recent study done by the National Sleep Foundation showed that only 15% of students get the necessary 8 ½ hours of sleep on school nights.Over the years, school’s starting times have been moved earlier in the day, which is affecting students and teachers’ performance . However, moving the times forward is a debated issue among the community. School start times should be moved forward to allow students more time to sleep. Delaying school start times can help students improve in their learning and performance, as well as, making the road safer for the new teen drivers and others on the road. Also, it can help improve the health of students and young teachers.
Overall, sleep is vital to person’s well being and can be as important as breathing
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For example, a study conducted by the University of Minnesota showed,”Researchers analyzed data from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming and found that shifting the school day later in the morning resulted in a boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies “ (The Atlantic ). The results of this study overwhelmly showed that shifting the start of the school day correlates with higher grades and better attendance records for students. This has to do with the fact that it is harder to pay attention and learn in class when tired , which is hard to avoid when school starts before eight in the morning. A fact of equal importance comes from the article, ‘’Scientists Link A Good Night’s Sleep To Higher Test Scores” the people conducting the study surveyed some first year college students about their sleeping habits. When comparing the results, researchers found that students that generally got a good night of sleep tested ten percent higher on exams than those who got less sleep (The Huffington Post). This is vital information because it shows that the amount of sleep students get affects their performance in class. With that, if a student is lacking the recommended amount of sleep they are at an increased risk of performing poorly in class. To summarize, …show more content…
They believe School schedules should stay the same because shifting the school day affects families and transportation schedules.The article, “ Do Later School Start Times Really Help High School Students?” argues that, “. It can be disruptive to parents' work schedules, result in shortened times for after-school activities such as sports and clubs, cause students to get home later in the day, and may also impact hours available for after school jobs.” (Psychology Today). This is an important point to keep in mind because many parents work later in the day and would have to accommodate their schedule if the school times shifted, which is not easy for many people. Also, many students are involved in extracurricular activities and if school starts later it will end later, which may interfere with the amount of time students have for these activities. Another fact to consider is in the article “Not Everyone Thinks MCPS High Schools Should Start Later” it says, that school districts that use the same buses to transport throughout all of the schools in the district will not be able to transport home all of the students if there was a schedule change. They also say that not only would there be a problem with getting kids home, but there would be a problem with having the buses on the road during rush hour which could cause kids to not get home until late evening. This is
Having a later school start time can increase a student’s academic grades and awareness. Thirty-three percent of teens say that they fell asleep in class. Even though this is a small portion of teens, falling asleep in class shouldn’t even happen once. Also, this means they are getting less than what they need,(eight to nine hours of sleep a night). A school needs to pack as much teaching time as they can in a day, but if that means waking up a student at a time so early, then there's no point.When a student doesn’t sleep as much, students are not aware as they would be if they had a good night’s rest. If students had this sleep, the would pay more attention in class. Therefor, a student would have better grades.
Suppose you are getting up out of bed to go to school in the morning. Your mom needs to arrive at work at 8:30, but your school just changed their start time to 9:45 because children at the school were falling asleep in class. You are forced to awaken at the same time you started waking up at, because your mom has to be at work. You have to go with your friend, who has his mother take him everyday. You have your mother take you at the same time as before to drop you off at your friend's house to wait.
Imagine: a world where a biological necessity is not seen as a priority, and adolescent’s educations are suffering. This is how schools’ think about sleep.What all human beings need to survive is being put on the back burner by most schools in America- sleep(11a). It has been proven through the process of scientific research that sleep is necessary on the same level as food or activity. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation is a chronic health problem that many youths suffer from today. Teens are naturally predisposed to go to sleep around 11 pm, but are forced to wake up around 6:15, not allowing any time for adequate sleep (“Backgrounder: Later school start Times” 1). Irregular sleep patterns during teenage years can cause long-term
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
As children’s doctor and sleep expert Daniel Lewin stated, “The call for later school start times is an essential movement for keeping tweens and teens healthy.” Several reasons why school hours are unjust due to early start times include first, students not being able to focus as easily in class. Next, students also cannot participate to their full capability when their mind and body are not rested properly. Also, recent studies have concluded that teenagers cause more automobile accidents on their way to school, due to being sleep deprived. A negative perspective considering a later school start revolves around the idea that through history school hours have consistently ended before a specific time. This seems to support the fact that “after school
Going to bed at 2:00 in the morning and waking up at 6:30 AM to go to school is a nightmare for anyone. Unfortunately, this situation is far too common in today’s schools. But have you ever wondered how insufficient sleep affects your everyday life? Schools must start later. With early start times thwarting students’ health and safety, adolescents needing more sleep in general, and teens having trouble sleeping early, later start times are essential.
According to the article “Later School Start Times”, “Given the primary focus of education is to maximize human potential, then a new task before us is to ensure that the conditions in which learning takes place address the very biology of our learners” (3). Students do not receive the recommended amount of sleep and spend their school day struggling to concentrate. Social media has also played a part in educating the public about the dangers of sleep deprivation. The media cover stories involving this argument and seem to side with its supporters.
Typically, people enjoy receiving an extra hour of sleep, even an extra five minutes of sleep. Teens are just one group of people who enjoy sleep. Unfortunately, teens are unable to obtain the correct number of hours per night. Later school start times would be beneficial because the schools would see an impact on attendance, increased school performance, and based on several studies, students would receive the recommended amount of sleep. The psychological effects would greatly outweigh the negative effects caused by an early start time. Benefits of a later start time include, better health, improved grades and teens reaching the recommended amount of sleep per night. Downfalls of starting school later would be transportation issues, coddling
In the first place, students are not getting enough sleep. In the article “Should School Start later” by Lisa M. Herrington [20] “According to the National Sleep Foundation “59% of 6th-8th graders and 87% of high schoolers aren't getting the sleep they require”. This quote shows that students are not getting the sleep they need. And kids must wake up early how are they getting the sleep we need. “So why don’t kids just go to sleep earlier? It’s not that simple” Says Danny Lewin, a sleep specialist at Children's National Health system in Washington, D.C. “Adolescents have a deeply programmed biological clock to go to bed later and wake later” Says
Who has not fallen asleep in class before? To change the hours of school to a later start time or keep them the same is a topic that has been discussed throughout many school systems across America. By starting school later, students overall health could benefit by getting more sleep. Students’ school productivity may also improve by starting school later. With the school day being pushed back, kids will get home later, which could have positive outcomes in family life.
Transportation is a major issue that would be impacted by a later school start time. For many school districts, including my own, buses are reused for the elementary and high school students. The problem with shared buses is that if the high school start time changes, so would the elementary start time. Elementary students
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
On average in today’s society most teens don’t like going to school that early in the morning. To have to wake up so early when they only get about seven hours of sleep, to have students be coming into school at 7:30AM or maybe even earlier in some other schools, is not right. Students need to have time at night to get work done, not only schoolwork but also non-schoolwork. Needless to say, the school schedule for high school students needs to be changed and be made where they go in later. That way they get their work done and get enough sleep because without much sleep students will not be getting high grades. A health survey that the University Health Center administered showed them that one in four students say that lack of sleep has
School start times not only impact a student’s sleep cycle, but they also impact the number of early morning car accidents. Students who are sleep deprived that drive to school face a huge risk of getting into a car crash that early in the morning. Studies show that “when high schools in Fayette County, Kentucky, changed their start times from 7:30a.m. to 8:30a.m., teen car crash rates dropped by more than sixteen percent.“ (Discovery). Moving start times back in other counties and states will decrease the numbers of teen car
In the United States, high school students have complained about not getting enough sleep, being late to school, and not learning for generations. Sleep is viewed as a luxury that active students often don’t have the time for, however, getting enough sleep is a necessity, and is as important as eating healthy and exercising. Most high school students are sleep deprived and have a high tardy/truancy rate, simply because school start times are too early. It is for these reasons that the start time of school for secondary students and younger should start considerably later.