Why School Should Start Later

If you want better grades and more sleep, school should start later. Many schools are considering early start times. In fact, at least three schools in Maine are considering starting school later. Middle and high schools should start later because students and parents would be less tired and because children would be able to play outside when the sun is out.

Early school start times prevent many students and teachers from getting a full nine hours of sleep per night. Some people say that waking up early will help prepare them for later in life; however, this is actually hurting them because of the likelihood of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and many other impacts to students health. Schools should begin later in the morning because it will improve grades, student-athletes that participate in school , and the overall health of the students and teachers.​ Starting school later in the day will increase the overall health and productivity of a student. Students could develop serious mental health issues and diseases which would ruin them and those around them. The following excerpt is from the book The Promise of Sleep written by William Dement and

School's starting at 7:30 a.m. is an appropriate time, but having school start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. can be a lot more beneficial to students. School starting early in the morning can cause many harmful things to teenagers. Getting little to no sleep causes teenagers to be more forgetful and it limits their ability to learn. It can also lead to depression, aggressive behavior, obesity, drug and alcohol use, and sleep deprivation. Research shows that a later start time is generally a little more effective for students. Having Central Valley High School start at a later time would provide many positive outcomes to better adolescent's school work, safety, and their overall health.

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.

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.

What do you think about the time your school starts? Have you ever thought about the affects of your opinion would have on other students? Some people believe school should begin earlier. Some people believe school should start later. In my opinion school start time should stay the same because it would affect students in a negative way by not getting enough sleep, not spending time with their family and not participating in after school activities.

How would you feel if your parent couldn’t take you to school or drive you to the bus because schools starts after they would already need to be at work? How would you like if practices or outside actives were cut short due to school start time? Schools began starting earlier in the 1990s. The average time schools start is 8:03 am. Only 17.7% of 39,700 public middle and high schools start at 8:30 am or later. I believe that the earlier start time is an advantage. With schools being a big advantage to help us plan for life, we need to make sure we use this precious time to learn. If school would start later there would be less time for outside activities and practices, your parent mostly likely couldn’t help you get ready in the morning and drive you to school because they would already be at work, and truly if school starts later, then most people would go to bed later.

There has always been a controversy as to if the school day should start later on in the morning or not. The University of Minnesota study shows that schools who have already changed the beginning of the school day to later have found that only a third of students actually received eight or more hours of sleep while the students who received less than eight hours reported to have more symptoms of depression, higher counts of caffeine, and substance abuse with alcohol and drugs. In “Should the School Day Start Later?” written by Michael Gonchar, Gonchar writes that, “New evidence suggests that a later start to the school day could have all sorts of benefits…” Some of those benefits could include the decrease of tardiness, increase in attendance, test scores and everyday grades, more positive mental health, and even car crash rates. All in all the research and studies over if the school day should start later has been in discussion for years.

School start times should be later because school times should revolve around the student’s best ability to learn. When America started public schools, they had the same time frame, around seven to three. They did this so the farmers would have time to go and work in the afternoon. Well, needless to say we still have the same schedule now, with a much different industry and way of life. There are countless reasons schools should start later and countless studies that prove school should start later. I think some of the more important reasons include, a teen’s biological clock that makes their brain want to go to bed and get up late, car crashes caused by sleep deprivation and more sleep increasing concentration, alertness and a better attitude in class

Do you hate waking up so early in the morning to get ready for school? Do you feel so drained because you’re tired? Some school districts have started school later to give students more time to sleep and because students get more sleep it has several positive effects. School districts would be for schools starting later because studies have shown students with more sleep have improved school performances, more sleep which reduces health problems, and less morning automobile accidents.

School shouldn't start later, why? Because kids should be able to get up for school and should be able to go to bed early. School must not start later. It is kind've important because if school starts later it can mess up your parents work schedule.

I believe schools should move to a later start time. Starting later will be beneficial to teens. Starting time later will benefit teens because as they are growing and getting older they are requiring more sleep. First, teens require more sleep. For instance, teens require about 9.5 hours of sleep after puberty but only get 7.5 hours.

Since the young adults have a tendency for not being able to sleep until later, on average, the young adults only get about 7 to 7 ½ hours of sleep, when in reality they need 9 to 9 ½ hours of sleep. With school starting early in the morning around 7:00 AM, adolescents are required to wake up around 5:00 AM, so they have time for getting ready, and for traveling. If school were to start later, it would greatly benefit the students. It would behoove the students if they could get more hours of sleep. Seeing that school were to start later, the car incident rates would decline, their attitude would improve, students would be more attentive, perform better

Almost every day high school students are waking up around six o’clock in the morning to get ready for school, some even earlier than that. Nearly every morning students are waking up without adequate sleep. If sleep is one of the most essential needs of the body in order to grow and develop, shouldn’t we be more aware of how much it affects students everyday performance? The ways in which students are affected by sleep-deprivation is precisely why school needs to start later.

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