Why High School Should Start Later

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.

Research has shown that teenagers experience a change in their internal sleep clocks so that waking up early and going to sleep early are difficult. I agree with the decision to change school times and what it has to offer. This would not only help the teenagers with many things but also accommodate the parents schedules too. I believe that if the school system were to alter the times so that High Schoolers were to wake up later then it would fix various conflicts; teen depression, lack of awareness, and it allows parents to work later.

The school day should start later in order improve students’ mental health. Survey results have consistently indicated that middle level and high school students who start school at 7:15 a.m. or earlier obtain less total sleep on school nights due to earlier rise times in comparison to students at later-starting schools. () This is just the beginning of the negative impacts that early start times have on students. By starting school at a later time, students’ brains will function better, their grades and learning increases, and will be more mentally stable.

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.

Teenagers need more sleep. If schools start school later, students would be less tired. A study of eight schools in Minnesota started school 1 hour later and grades and morale went up and tardiness went down. It has been scientifically proven in a test they did in Minnesota that 8 schools stated later and most of the students grades went up they were happier and everyone seemed more

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.

If we start school later then kids test scores will increase, they wont fall asleep in class and they would get the appropriate amount of sleep. According to upfrontmagazine.com, nNew research suggests that later high school starts have widespread benefits. Sleep experts at the university of Mminnesota studied eight high schools before and after the moved to later start times. They found that the later start time, the better off students were on measures like mental health, car crash rates, attendance, and in some schools, grades and standerized test scores. This is an accurate example because it comes from sleep experts at the university of minnesota that have actually studied this topic. With later starting time you’ll have more time to sleep and will be able to pay attention in class so you can get that good grade.

Also, it will take away the opportunity for students to prepare themselves for early college classes in the future. As one mom states on her blog “If teens are going to school later and later, they won't train their bodies to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.  Training their bodies is something that will be useful to them in adult life,” (Grose). Some principles at school still do not believe that pushing back the school start do would be beneficial. They say it is because students only take into account school starting later and not having to stay in school for the same number of hours a day. Also, that children enjoy getting out at 2 or 3 pm because then they have time for extracurricular activities and do not have to miss school if they participate in a sport (Rasicot). People against later start times feel the problem solved could be solved instead by better teen discipline.

Still, advocates [those in favor] say studies show the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. In 1996, high school

In the articles of “High schools starting later to help sleepy teens”, claim is that school

The article Should School Stay Earlier? by elenam112 states “This means the school would be open longer, resulting in larger electrical and heating bills.” Schools would need to stay open later at night for after school activities and stay open early in the morning for students who are dropped off early. Schools may even have to purchase lights for after school activities. Schools would also have to change their bus transportation systems which are designed to run as efficiently and inexpensively as possible. The average national cost that schools need to pay for each student’s bus transportation is $459. Changing the system could result in many more

Changing school start times will increase attendance and money brought in. Changing the times could increase attendance by 1%, which could bring in $40 million more.(Lewis) In Bonneville, Idaho the school started later in the day which resulted in absences dropping 15%. In the Article by Lisa Lewis, it also talks about how delaying school by 1 hour “produces the same benefit as shrinking class size by one-third or replacing a teacher in the 50th percentile of effectiveness with one in the 84th percentile.”(Lewis)

First, schools should not start later because transportation would be an issue. Some parents may have trouble getting their kids to school because of their work schedule. For example, Liz Szabo, from USA Today, she quoted Daniel Domenech, in her article “Study: Most teens start school too early in morning to get enough sleep” states, "It's a logistical nightmare," said Daniel Domenech, executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association., who said that school districts have to consider the cost of school buses, as well as traffic...” This is significant because most school districts have at least one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school that would need busses to take them to and from school. Parents would not benefit if school started later because parents would now have to worry about being late to

School is not the most desirable place that a teenager would want to be at seven hours a day, five days a week, 180 days a year, and even more problematic is that for them to get to school on time, they have to fight their biological clocks (Hansen). Many schools have started pushing their start times back by even just an hour, and helped with the students grades and mental health by giving them the time they need to sleep (“4 Good Snooze”). Pushing start times back a good idea because it will give students the rest they need to be successful.

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