School Starting School

First of all, kids will be more energized and be more academically advanced if school starts are pushed back. According to, “Should School Start Later” “Studies show that well rested teens get better grades, have higher standardized test scores, and miss fewer days of school. They also have a lower risk of being in car accidents and have fewer health problems such as depression, mood changes, and being overweight.” Many schools start before 7:45 a.m. and have tired students not putting forth their best efforts while 40 percent of American High Schools start classes past 8 a.m. The schools with later starts

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.

Do you ever wake up and feel like you haven’t gotten enough sleep? The reason is because in reality you probably haven’t. Studies show that schools should not start any earlier that 8:30 in the morning due to teens suffering from sleep deprivation. There are many negative effects this condition can have on a teens body including a direct effect on one’s physical and mental health, public safety and excelling in the future. In the Ted Talk video, " Why school should start later for teens" by, Wendy Troxel.  Ms. Troxel explained why school should start later for teens.. Students are very drowsy in the morning and are usually rushing to get to school on time which limits breakfasts times and healthy food options. Schools should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.  for several reasons  but sleep deprivation is  the most important. Sleep deprivation can cause a direct effect to a child’s general health and behavior, public safety and potentially future success.

Delaying the time that school starts could affect the amount of sleep that students receive. An average teen is supposed to obtain 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep each night. There is a national debate of whether or not to start school at a later time. Students, Parents, teachers, and even bus drivers all need their sleep. Why not start school earlier if teens are struggling to get to bed from after school

To begin, starting school later can improve students’ health and safety. The CDC urges people to schools to start later, and they have solid reasons for it. Researchers from Minnesota University analyzed over 9000 high school students and discovered that altering the original start time to a later one improved attendance, test scores, grades in math, social studies, and English, and decreased tardiness, drug abuse, and depression. Sadly, over 75% of schools in over 40 states start before 8:30. Without a doubt, later start times have obvious benefits

School starting later does have it’s positive affects it also has its negative effects as well. School starting later would allow students to sleep later, but according to the High Schools with late start times help teens but schedules and after-school can conflict, “potential complications,such as additional costs if buses were added, child-care issues where late-day schedules might prevent teens from picking up younger siblings after school, and implications for teams if they end up playing in the dark.” According to Fox News Megan Kuhfeld says, a student in California,” I enjoyed waking up later than everyone else in the area next to me where there were early start times, but as a member of the tennis team, she had to miss sixth and seventh period classes to compete at other schools.” Although school starting later would give teens more time to sleep, it would cause conflicts between their schedules after

According to the article “Should School Start Later” written by Justin O’Neill, he states “nearly 70 percent of teens are not getting enough sleep.” Since students are not getting enough sleep they end up feeling tired during school. If school starts later students will have more time to get ready for school in the morning without having to wake up earlier, be able to sleep in later, and have more time to eat breakfast in the mourning. Students will also be able to have more energy at school especially in the morning. Since students are tired when they go to school “some experts are saying middle and high schools should start later so teens can sleep in” (O’Neill).

To begin with, schools that have started later have seen better academic results. Many schools have seen improvement in standardized test scores recently due to later school start times. For example, the article “Do schools Begin Too Early” by Finley Edwards states that a school in Wake County North Carolina delayed their school start times by one hour and saw at least 2 more percentile points in standardized test scores. This means that schools that have delayed their start times have seen improved performance and grades in school. In addition, many students have came to school more due to later start times. According to Finley Edwards “Students who start school one hour later have 1.3 fewer absences than the typical student.” This means that schools which have started later have had more students come to school. Therefore, starting school later has many pros including academic results.

Another reason to start school later is breakfast. Most teens don't eat breakfast in the morning because of time. We should always eat breakfast but because it's so early, it's hard to have time for breakfast. Breakfast gives us energy. If we are not getting the breakfast we need, we won't have the energy we need. Whenever there is a late start at school I find that I have time to eat breakfast. If school started at 8:50, we could wake up at around 7:30 and have time to eat

In a study at University of Minnesota they have found that starting school at a later time improves attendance, attendance, standardized test scores and performance in math, English, science and social studies. It also decreased tardiness, symptoms of depression and consumption of caffeinated beverages

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.

I completely agree with the main idea of the article, schools should start later for high schools and middle schools. Macmillan uses evidence saying that “chronic sleep loss among teenagers has associated with poor school performance and a higher risk for depressive symptoms, obesity, cardiovascular problems, risk-taking behaviors, and athletic injuries” (Macmillan). When schools start extremely earlier, teenagers are tired because their sleep cycles are delayed. Starting early has serious consequences that can be avoided by starting later. Right now, I am a senior at Anderson High School. My school starts at seven-twenty in the morning. From my personal experiences, I can support the fact that starting school early creates problems for a teenager. Getting up at six in the morning is always hard and

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.

One of the reasons that school should be started later is because it does not give growing teens enough time to sleep. Sleep researcher, Wendy Troxel, who spoke on TED, says that high school aged kids’ sleep cycles do no start until 11 p.m and do not end until 8 a.m. This means that whenever students’ alarms go off from anywhere around 5-7:30 a.m, it simply does not

A ton of people like to agree with me, and say that school just in fact start later. “As if all of this weren’t enough, teens who don’t get enough sleep are more at risk for drug and alcohol use, depression and suicide” (Lewis). This is a very powerful line. This shows that if teens don’t get enough sleep, it might cause more people to kill themselves. “Since the 1990s, sleep researchers and other health professionals have been telling us that these early school hours are harming children. It's not just the numbers of hours of sleep, but also the timing of sleep that is required for optimal health” (Rubinstein).