Why Schools Should Start Later Essay

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not an early riser and don’t like to get up early. When I get up early I am very slow and sluggish, which then sometimes causes me to rush and get stressed or even sometimes missing the bus. So wouldn’t having later school start times solve all of this? Schools should shift their start times to later in the day because getting more sleep improves performance and test scores, kid’s brains aren’t always awake and ready to work so early in the morning, and lack of sleep can be dangerous when driving.

This particular source from The Atlantic basically just talks about why schools need to start later for middle and high schools and how students’ health and learning are at risk when they start school too early in the morning. The article starts by saying that the centers for disease and prevention are calling for schools to start later in the morning because a lack of sleep has been linked to higher rates of obesity, depression, and motor-vehicle accidents among teens. A study by done by the University of Minnesota proved that a shift in school start time proved beneficial for the students with better attendance, test scores, and academic grades. There was also a decrease in tardiness, substance abuse, and symptoms of depression. Another study done by Brown University found that when students didn’t get the recommended amount of sleep, they became sleep- deprived during class and that the students were “pathologically sleepy.” Even with all of the science behind the fact that schools should start later, schools are often reluctant to do so because school districts don’t have the funding necessary to do so, parents worry that kids will not have time for their extra- curricular activities and or rely on their teens to watch younger siblings. With such opposition, the article proclaims that it is very possible to switch school times without creating too many problems and that school districts just have to be creative in how they implement and plan out the time

Recent studies say yes, students who have to get up to go to school need more time to sleep. The students are having a very hard time keeping their eyes open during school hours, and some say that school should start at 9:00am instead of 8:00am, and a lot agree. Students need to get their sleep as much as they need their education, but can you have both?

Several studies have linked sleep to the transfer of knowledge into long term memory, while others show how the lack of sleep is disruptive to learning. If school start times truly have an impact on the functionality of the teenage brain, educators should be doing everything in their power to make sure schools begin at a proper hour. The purpose of this study was to extend research done in other parts of the country, traditionally in urban areas, that attempted to show a link between student achievement and school start times. This study aims to compare two different schools, with comparable demographics, in hopes of extending the research to small, rural schools. Data from two rural schools were obtained, organized, and tested to see if there was a statistically significant difference between the average GPA of the two schools for the “2011-2012 school year. Graduation rates, or continuous enrollment, from the 2010-2011 school year were also analyzed in this study. The results showed a trend toward a difference in GPA between both schools, but no statistically significant difference was found. The school that had a later start time, however, did show a statistically significant higher graduation rate than the school that had an earlier start

Many kids have to wake up at 6 or 7 o’clock everyday just to get up to go to school. By the time they get there, some are still half asleep when they get to class. Others might fall asleep later in the day. Some kids are late to school because they overslept. Is there a way to solve this problem? Yes, schools should start later in the day.

Schools should start later so the student could sleep in more. They could also get more involved in the class work and they aren’t going to school tired.

Every morning is the same for me, I have a stroke and sit bolt upright the split second my phone starts blaring my alarm. Despite me waking up at the same time every morning, it never ceases to be a jarring experience. I cherish the few days over the weekend and the summer when I can arise whenever my heart desires. The only reason I get up early is so that I can make it to school before 8 so I don’t get marked late. Oddly enough, the practice of getting up at the crack of dawn is not universal, for instance, many secondary schools in Sweden don’t start until after 8:30 (Swedish School System). This just goes to show that school does not need to start as early as possible. Therefore, I believe school should start later in the day everywhere

researchers, sleep increases a student’s ability to focus and process information, and the effects of more sleep on student outcomes is often very significant” (“Later School Start Times Could Boost Student Outcomes”). Pushing back the starting time of school does not only let your child get more sleep at night, but it also increases your child’s learning at school. “The preliminary findings show that with the 8:30 a.m. start time there has been a 53 percent drop in the number of failing grades, and the number of days students were suspended for disciplinary reasons dropped from 166 to 19,” said Thomas Conrad, principal of the 1,000-plus student school in North Eastham. Additionally, Finley Edwards, a Colby College economist, said delaying the school start time by one hour increases math and reading test scores by 3 percentile points. Instead of teens being so droopy during class, they will be able to focus more during school and their test scores will increase.

Some may say that kids want more and more sleep, so getting up earlier will make the less likely to go back to bed. When a student wakes up early, they are usually in a horrible mood. Sleeping later improves the teens behavior majorly. According to, “Impact of Delaying School Time on Adolescent sleep, Mood, and Behavior”, it says, “...and those reporting at least eight hours of sleep increased from 16.4% to 54.7%.” “Daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and depressed mood were all reduced.” When schools give students the extra hour or two, they’re behavior goes from depressed and slow, to up and energetic.

In some places, the education system has tried to adapt in order to benefit the behavior of teenagers. For example, studies have shown that many teenagers only get seven and a half hours of sleep when they really should be getting over nine hours of sleep per night. When students are tired, it affects their ability to learn, effects their ability to remember past information, and affects their ability to retain new school material. Some schools have responded to this sleep issue by changing the school starting time to a later time in the morning. For example a school that started at 7 A.M would change to start at 8:30 A.M, in order to give students extra time to sleep. This would improve the awareness and learning ability of students early in the morning, and insure that no school time is wasted.

A school is an institution dedicated to teaching students under the general direction of the school and its teachers, yet in recent years this has been far from the case. School districts during the past few years have drawn back its start times, resulted in deteriorating situations that at times have become disasterous. Students are getting less and less sleep during the course of their lives, from elementary school to middle school and worst into high school. During these times sleep is essential, and schools are incredibly eager to see it go away. While a change from our current system of early school start times might seem unfavorable for many reasons, in the long run these concerns would fall away as student retention rates would increase leading to more knowledgeable well rounded students, biological and behavioral risk factors would decrease significantly, and students overall health would take a significant betterment leading to healthier students, something that all sides want. While some might argue that the financial burden of such a change might outpower all the profit that it may cause, in reality the benefit is childrens health something that all sides of the argument strive to achieve.

Students are not getting the proper sleep they need. School start times around the nation begin at around eight in the morning. If students need to balance a large load of after school activities, these early start times may be difficult for some to adjust on. The patterns of teenager’s lives keep them up anyway and make them need to sleep later into the morning. Therefore, High schools need to start at least 30 minutes later in the day to help students, schools and society. If schools started thirty minutes later in the day, the department of education could make an alternative schedule that allows for all after school activities, just at a later start time. In an end result, students can wake up more focused on going to school with an awake and attentive approach that is ready to learn versus a slow and tired attitude.

Teens would be more aware and awake, thus improving their academic learning (Busch et al.). Also sleep deficiency causes many health risks. Sleep deficiency also plays a role in a kid’s mental health and how they are acting in school (“Why is Sleep Important?”). Changing school start times would decrease both of those problems. Sleep deficiency is also associated with increased school non-attendance studies. School’s get payed by the attendance of kids that show up that day in one school, one study shows a 66% rate decrease in tardiness when changing to a later start time (Wahlstorm). Another positive three schools that changed their start times saw a significant increase in the first period grade point average (Busch et al.). In one of the school districts that were tested by Wahlstorm there was improvement in all grades in all classes. (Wahlstorm). This information benefits the school’s by getting them more money for attendance, and raising the school’s overall

I’m pretty sure most people hate getting up super early in the morning to get to school. Am I right? After having a long night or doing homework so late students need more sleep and do not need to wake up so early. Some teachers have to drive a long distance to school every morning and when you’re already tired having to drive early in the morning and then come to school dealing with all kinds of stuff your not going to have good energy. A lot of kids have many things to do after school such as: get homework finished, study for a test or quizzes, go to work, attend church events, and play sports. Students would have more time to get their homework done and more time to study as well as have the chance to have a social life outside of school.

In the article “Why school needs to start later” from the website Forbes there is a study that says 50%-80% of students are suffering from sleep deprivation, if school would start later then this problem would be solved and help students improve in attendance, grades, and most importantly test scores.