Why School Should Start Later

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

Think about this, you wake up at 8:00 am and start school at 9:00 am. Awesome right? Wrong! According to the article, “Should School Start Later,” “Not everyone is in favor of earlier start times. Many school districts say they would present big challenges.”

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

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.

According to NPR.com, Scientists have proven that past a certain age, regardless of technology being in the bedroom, kids and teens can’t fall asleep until their brain lets them, for some children, that time might be after 10:30pm. Schools should have later start times because later start times positively affect standardized test scores, reduces teenage traffic accidents, and students are proven to have a better overall emotional well being, even though parent schedules may be a problem.. Schools should have later start time for middle school students, for the schools and the students well being.

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 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).

School days need to start later: Starting school days later will cause an extensive impact on everyone, even if it is an hour difference. Research shows that 2/3 of high school students are getting less than seven hours of sleep. Studies suggest that later school starts will benefit the students along with parents. This will benefit the students as well as parents for the reason of the students bodies are not functioning correctly in class, it is causing a lot of stress for everyone as well as helping students have an enjoyable time at school. If School days continue to start at a time of 8:30 am or earlier, we will observe more students along with parents having trouble with their terrible sleeping habits that can lead to food disorders as well as depression.

So at this time, most teens sleep at 11pm and since a lot of middle and high schools start at 7.30 am it can be very bad for the developing brain of a teenager. The benefits that can come with starting school later don’t just have to appeal to the students, it can be helpful for parents and teachers and the community in

Getting these hours of sleep is healthy and it prepares their brain to do all the school works. Therefore, school should start later in the morning. School should start later in the morning, because students need to have enough sleep every day for their health. According to the article “Start School Later”, “Early school hours prevent many students and young teacher from getting the nine or so hours of sleep per night that most teenager and young adults need” (1).

It has been believed for generations that the earlier that school starts the better a students life will become believing that it is necessary for a student to wake up early so that their brain can be more active. It is also believed that students who sleep in or have a hard time waking up are lazy and some might say that they don't care about their education. These statements are false recent studies show that the earlier that school starts the more it will impact students negatively. Schools should start later because earlier school start times lead mental and physical health problems, later school start times reduces tardiness, absenteeism, and improve the students safety, and later school start times improve academic performance.

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.

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.

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