Why Students Should Start Later In School

One of the biggest struggles for students today, is the struggle to wake up for school in the mornings, and to make it to class on time. Because of the start times that many high and middle schools currently have, students are having to get up early to get ready, therefore providing them with little sleep at night. They are faced with their everyday schedules, things that are happening in other parts of their lives, as well as having to keep up with their schoolwork. All of this results in a loss of sleep, with the added factor of having to wake up early in the mornings. Having a later start time for schools is beneficial for student’s health, safety, and their overall performance in school.

Imagine you are looking from the top of a sixth grader's room. It's almost 6:00 A.M. and it's still really dark out. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! He jumps up suddenly and glares at his alarm clock. It looks like he just wants to punch the thing right off of his nightstand. You hear him say, "Ugh, why do we have to get up so early, can't we have a later school start time?" Adolescents not getting enough sleep has been spreading, but in the year 2000 it has really begun to have an affect. Parents are saying that their child is tired when they get home. Now schools have been trying to solve that problem with later start times. The students at Middle School South Lake Zurich Illinois would like later start times. It won't cost much, it benefits the students and teachers. However, there are some problems. But still, there are lots of benefits.

Many young students, from the U.S. and abroad, have to wake up at an earlier time in order to get to school. What many of them do not realize however is the effects it can have on their body’s development. Sleep is seen as unnecessary or even pointless to many young children, but as they get older, their appreciation for the act becomes widely apparent. Lots of educational systems all over the country still start school at a time earlier than 8 o’clock in the morning. The developing students who have to wake up at such an early time don’t realize that they shouldn’t have to wake up so early in the morning, and that is because their bodies simply don’t function properly at a certain time and with a lack of sleep. I believe that school start times for students that are in primary and secondary school should start later because doing so will have a positive effect on their overall physical health as well as their psychosocial development.

One of these benefits is that the students and the teachers would both obtain added sleep, therefore; their health would increase. The recommended hours of sleep a night for teens is over nine hours and an abundance of teens do not reach this number due to late nights and early mornings (Boergers, 1). If students received the recommended hours of sleep per night, their health would increase greatly. An immense health benefit of getting enough sleep per night is that it lowers depression (Boergers, 2). Some health risks that accompany not receiving enough sleep are obesity, drinking problems, tobacco smoking, and use of drugs (Viadero, 5). Sleep deprivation can also cause anxiety and depression. Therefore, if schools started later, students would, overall, be healthier. Another pro to arriving at school later would be the

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

Have you ever been really tired when you wake up for school in the morning? Sleep is very important to all teens, or it should be. Young adults should have 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep every night, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), in Sarah McKibben’s article “Wake Up Calls”. Unfortunately, two-thirds of teens are getting less than 7 hours of sleep each night, according to the NSF’s chart. This is causing a large number of schools and scientists to think that schools should start later in the morning. I fiercely disagree with this. Schools should not start later because starting later for high schools would cause too many negative consequences.

Going to bed at 2:00 in the morning and waking up at 6:30 AM to go to school is a nightmare for anyone. Unfortunately, this situation is far too common in today’s schools. But have you ever wondered how insufficient sleep affects your everyday life? Schools must start later. With early start times thwarting students’ health and safety, adolescents needing more sleep in general, and teens having trouble sleeping early, later start times are essential.

What if you weren’t so tired in school? Imagine feeling energized like you just drank a gallon of coffee and refreshed in school, ready to learn with your classmates all around you, happily talking about class and catching up with each other. School could be so much better. Therefore, the question is-- should schools have later starting times? In “Should School Start Later?”

With early school start times, students tend not to have enough sleep. National Sleep Foundation and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend an eight to ten-hour sleep, which is sufficient. However, 69 percent of the students in the United States sleep less than eight hours per night, which is insufficient. It affects students negatively through health, behaviors, and grades. The lack of sleep promotes students to become sleepy, defenseless, and lead to the inability to concentrate, which may cause injuries and lack of knowledge in school. This dilemma has been around for years and years in the United States. Schools should start later to avoid this dilemma because it provides students with more time to sleep and an efficient work-and-rest

As a result, many teachers have a excellent explanation for not changing school start times, but they will need to know what the pediatrics need to say. By changing start times to a later time, teenagers could have a healthy life, and could get a better score on tests. “There's a price to pay” says Dr. Judith Owens, which studies have shown that lack of sleep in teenagers the risk of traffic accidents and makes them more vulnerable to depression and

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

On average in today’s society most teens don’t like going to school that early in the morning. To have to wake up so early when they only get about seven hours of sleep, to have students be coming into school at 7:30AM or maybe even earlier in some other schools, is not right. Students need to have time at night to get work done, not only schoolwork but also non-schoolwork. Needless to say, the school schedule for high school students needs to be changed and be made where they go in later. That way they get their work done and get enough sleep because without much sleep students will not be getting high grades. A health survey that the University Health Center administered showed them that one in four students say that lack of sleep has

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

Students are the adults of tomorrow, yet policy-makers keep denying them the amount of sleep necessary for them to have a good overall health. As a recent graduate from high school, I can personally testify that I did not get anywhere near the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep. Between numerous afterschool activities I participated in, such as sports teams and clubs, doing homework, practicing musical instruments and still having to go to zero-period classes; class that starts at 7:30, I would be lucky if I got 6 hours of sleep. Poor time-management skills contributed to my lack of sleep, but having classes that starts at 7:30 to begin with is beyond me. For teenagers to wake up so early is literally defying the way their biological clocks are designed and can cause several health conflicts both physically and mentally that can all result in the consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. In this essay, I will be talking about the history of sleep science, the several harmful effects due to lack of sleep, then the benefits of getting sufficient sleep and finally, propose a short-term and long-term solution to help high school students receive the necessary 8-10 hours of sleep.