Why School Should Start Later

It has come to my attention that kids are going to school tired therefore looking like zombies. A good reason for this is that they are waking up so early for school. These reasons listed are why students should start school a little later in the morning. School should start later since students are not getting enough sleep, having health issues, consequently are getting severe and students are being tardy due to lack of sleep.

Do you wake up in the mornings to your alarm and snooze it because you are still tired and need more sleep? Many students have complained about the time you are required to get up for school. Most teens are arguing that it is healthier for them to get more sleep. In the article “Despite proven benefits, Starting School Later Remains ‘A Tough Sell’” by Tim Walker, claims that “...letting students sleep and starting school later can lead to better health and academic outcomes.”. Students should be given more time to sleep because it is good for them.

Statistics show that students who are less likely to get eight hours of sleep are two thirds likely to get injured than those who do. Both the CDC and the Pediatricians group cited significant risk that come with lack of sleep, such as obesity and depression. Researches analyze data from high schools in Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming and found that schools that start later in the morning had tremendous increase in attendance, test scores, grades in math, English, science and social studies. Sleep deprivation and chronic sleep loss can put you at risk for heart disease and heart attacks. The average teenager gets an average of 7.4 hours of sleep a night when they really need eight to ten hours.

Imagine you are experiencing a deep sleep with your favorite dream streaming like a movie, when all of a sudden your alarm clock goes off. Knowing you have to wake up is horrid, but can’t you simply press the snooze button for a few more minutes? Wrong! I know that same feeling of reluctance, but sadly the days don’t wait, and we all must wake up. However, children these days don’t get enough sleep, and would benefit tremendously from a few extra hours. I believe that if the school day started a few hours later, students would be more alert, process more knowledge, and produce better work.

Studies have shown that an hour more of sleep gave the students a 2.32 percent difference in test scores. That may not sound like much but in though that can bring a B+ to an A. “A recent poll conducted by the National sleep foundation found that 60% of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, according to their parents, and 15% said they can’t focus as well with less sleep,” said sleepfoundation.org. Students can’t focus with less sleep because their brain isn’t fully awake to let them pay attention in class. If students are not getting the sleep they need then they can ruin their chance at a high paying college or career.

According to the article Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours, “Sleep deprivation's impacts include: weight gain and eating disorders and increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes; reduced immunity; depression; anxiety; substance abuse; mood swings; behavior problems; suicidal ideation; and potential impacts on brain development.” Less sleep leads to so many problems which can be avoided with starting school later. The extra sleep the children will get will help them avoid the issues that sleep deprivation can

The debate about school start times being too early has been going on for years. However, no matter the final decision, elementary, middle, and high schools will all be affected. The fact that some students are too tired to function so early in the morning, and schools still start early is very appalling. I, personally, feel that school start times are too early. There are numerous obstacles we face in changing school start times, but together we can overcome them.Students need their sleep. When pupils are too tired to focus in class, they do poorly on tests, and this causes low academics. More sleep will allow a scholar to perform better on their exams. “It’s Not a Teens’ Fault- School Starts Too early” says, “ Evidence also… shows that students overwhelmingly perform better academically when they have adequate sleep.” So, if evidence pointed

Many students drag themselves out of bed during the school year to get to school on time only to fall asleep during their first block class. Teachers often find themselves raising their voices to get the students to wake up during their class. Many people may assume that these teenagers are lazy or have a bad attitude. In fact, these students are sleep deprived. Today American schools start at a very early hour based on a system in place during the 1800s to allow farm students to go to school and get home in time to work on the family farm. For most American students, this is no longer the case and school systems should start at a later time. I believe school should start later than nine o’clock because it helps students get the sleep they need and to stay focused.

Enough sleep is essential to a kid or teen’s health, focus, and to be less sleepy. Studies show that when the school board shifted the school day later in the morning it boosted attendance, test scores, grades and there was a drop in teen car crashes. Scientists say that the average teenager has a hard time falling asleep much before eleven o’clock and still needs eight and a half to nine and a half hours of sleep each night. Others still say that it would affect the amount of time for after school jobs, that the buses would need to change their whole schedule, affect parents work, and it would alter after school activities. For overall better health, we need to change it to a later time. Schools need to start school later

Average school starting times in the U.S. are seven to eight thirty,but this does not give teens enough time to wake up. I feel that schools need to start later to help teens all over the U.S. get more time in the morning to wake up, stay awake and be ready to learn and have an easier time completing early morning classes. To put in another way, changing the start times to later teens will have time to eat a good breakfast, finish homework, get more sleep and just be awake and alert. By making this change teachers and parents will see a change in our kids attitudes,grades and attendance. Furthermore, teens are at a crucial growing point and need more than eight hours of sleep so they are able to grow. Also, sleep is crucial for having a healthy immune system and to keep from getting ill.

Here is a concern that a number of students have, and the concern is the time that school begins. Some people accept the time that school begins now is fine as it is, but others including me are wanting the opportunity to have added time in the mornings.

When students have to get up early for school it creates many problems, including not being awake in their first couple periods. According to Dr. Judith A. Owens when students get less sleep it can cause chronic sleep loss. “A substantial body of research has now demonstrated that delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement”(1).This quote shows how there are many problems that can happen when students don’t get enough sleep at

All the sources cited here, including, authors and experts believe that chronic sleep loss put students to risk of depression, obesity, vehicle accidents, obesity, and even suicidal thoughts. Loss of sleep also put students in the academic risk, as the students cannot perform to their ability when they are sleepy. All these sources also suggest the same solution to this problem; start the school time later in the

If we don’t make our school start times later children and adolescents could suffer. Lack of of sleep in students today is a cause of bad test scores, daytime sleepiness, and overall frustration in parents and kids. The negative effects of early start times have been piling over the last decade and unless we do something the conflict will only progress in the decades to

We live in an age when many growing adolescents are constantly fighting their natural body clocks. It could potentially be one of the biggest issues facing our high school systems. Many school’s across America have started to push back their school start times. Is it worth it? The answer is yes. School should start later in order to unlock our nation’s high school potential.