Why School Should Start Later

Over 87% of teenagers don’t get enough sleep and go to school tired. Teenagers have constant expectations to live up to, but with the amount of sleep they’re getting it can be seemingly impossible. The question has been brought up time and time again, should the school day start later? Because of the risks of not getting enough sleep, trying to keep up with their their busy schedules, and being in their adolescent years, having the school day start later would help teenagers around the world immensely.

In a recent survey 97% of students wanted school to start later. Students should be able to go to school later because of many health problems. Teens have bad sleep habits and other after school activities that inhibit them from doing well in schools that start early in the morning. Right now school causes lack of sleep and is one cause in child obesity. Starting school at least an hour later can greatly improve the health of students and how well they can do academically. Schools should start later to accommodate teen sleep patterns.

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

One reason should start later is it helps you get better grades and be more alert. “Schools that have pushed start times to 8am, or later have seen promising results. Students are more alert and there are fewer incidents of tardiness.”(20) says Justin O’Neill, author of “Should School Start Later?”. Also, if school started later we would get more sleep.

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

In the article “Pediatricians Say School Should Start Later For Teens’ Health” it states,“...... a National Sleep Foundation poll found that 59 percent of middle schoolers and 87 percent of high schoolers are getting less than the recommended 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep a night. ”(Shute 2). Many people say that school start time is affecting students’ health.

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).

Have you ever had to go to sleep early because you had something important the next day and you needed a good night's sleep? Schools are starting later and later as researchers are saying that kids perform better when they get more sleep. There a a lot of reasons to support this, one is that it has been proven that kids do better on tests and quizzes following a good night’s sleep. School starting later could help with child obesity. It has been proven that when school starts later that there is improved attendance, graduation rates, and reduced car crash rates. School starting later would benefit the teachers and staff as well. The graduation rate alone is one very good reason for school to start later. School should start at at least 9:00.

“Students at the schools with early start times were tardy four more times more frequent.” Students tend to be tardy or even absent because they’re too tired due to waking up at 6 or 7. With a later start to school, students will get longer to sleep. In a study of later start times, “teachers, especially wanted a change because, “they were concerned about student attendance… we noticed better attendance.” ” With a later start time, not only grades could improve but attendance could too.

First of all, schools switching from a 6:30 start to 7:30 A.M. saw a dramatic increase in attendance. An increase in attendance leads to students missing less instruction, and the students can really understand it deeper than when they learn on their own. Additionally, test scores and subject grades also increased. Research by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement states, “Researchers analyzed data from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming and found that shifting the school day later in the morning resulted in a boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies.” A rise in grades helps in the long term. Better grades can, and do, lead to a better GPA, or grade point average. GPA is the average of the letter grades you receive in your classes, on a scale of 0 to 4.0, a four equaling an A, three equaling a B, two equaling a C, and so on. Also, this data shows that test grades were improved, which shows that high school students could get a higher score on the SAT and ACT exams. A combination of a good GPA and SAT or ACT score can ultimately lead to admission in a better college. A better college is vital to a student’s future job, as a better college may increase the job’s quality and pay. A small delay of one or two hours in the morning can potentially affect a

“studies show that adolescents who don't get enough sleep often suffer mental health problems” (let them sleep). It's easy to avoid this problem by allowing schools to start later. Schools should start later to allow kids more sleep and reduce stress.

Having a later school start can benefit a benefit academic. Everyone has always hated getting up early or school. Most students starting early, has always been hard to focus of what teachers are trying to say. Starting at a later time can benefit students to a happier and more successful life to learn in. According to the New York Times, Aaron writes, “They set their alarms, and their parents force them out of bed in the morning,

In the article “Should School Start Later?” by Justin O’Neill, he states in his article, “...starting school later means dismissing school later, which leaves fewer daylight hours for after school activities like sports. It could also cut into family dinner.” (21). What Peters is trying to explain is that if the schools start one later, they would add another later at the end of the day.

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