Persuasive Essay: Should Schools Have Later Start Times?

Why school should start later? School days are not supposed to start before 8:30 a.m. for middle and high schoolers. This fact is supported by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine that links early days to car accidents along the roads, depression among the young teenagers and increase in poor performance academically due to early school days. Teens struggle through the challenge of waking up very early in the morning so that they can be at school at the right time.

The Controversial Idea of School Starting Later An Obvious Issue The issue concerning the best time for schools in the United States to start has been quite a controversial one throughout the years. In the contemporary society, and on average, school going children and teenagers do not like waking up early to prepare to go to school. Often they find it as a major challenge, especially if they stayed up late at night doing schoolwork, engaging in chores, or other activities.

“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.”- Thomas Dekker. Schools should have a later start time because kids who have time to get ready in the morning and have time to eat breakfast feel more energized, more focused, get more involved in class, and have a better memory. Students focus better during the day with more time to sleep, more time to focus on homework, and more time to devote to activities in the evenings. These are reasons why schools should have a later start time.

Schools Should Start Later in the Morning Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2011 showed that “69% of U.S. high school students get fewer than 8 hours of sleep on school nights, and 40% get 6 or fewer hours” (McKibben). This lack of sleep can cause numerous negative side effects on teens. If school started later in the morning kid’s health and grade would improve as well as their sports performance. Schools should start later in the morning because students would be able to get the full 8-9 hours of sleep and perform better in school and sports and their health would improve. Starting school later in the morning has many benefits such as improvement in school, and sports.

Should Schools in America Start Later Many kids in America come to school tired and not ready to learn. Being tired can effect your child's grades. Parents might not realize that their child is falling behind because of lack of rest. Teenagers should get up to 9 1/2 hours of sleep yet many kids only get up to 7 hours of sleep.

21% of teen motor vehicle accidents are caused by drowsy driving. Many teens everyday are complaining about their school start times being way too early. Teen tiredness is now considered to be a public health pandemic. School starting at a later time is beneficial because it helps students catch up on sleep. It helps students stay out of trouble. And it helps students ability to learn.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes public understanding of sleep and sleep disorders, starting school later is an adequate way for students to have a better memory, behavior, attention, mood, and executive function. The National Sleep Foundation states “, A National Sleep Foundation poll reported that 28% of teenagers have fallen asleep in class at least once due to lack of sleep. Negative effects of sleep loss include impairments in mood, attention, memory, behavior and executive function… increase in caffeine use… sleep deprived-teens at higher risk of car accidents.” This means that by just adjusting the time by an hour students are more aware of their surroundings, more focused on what they’re learning, have a better mood, and executive function, and it reduces the amount of sugary snacks they have eat or drink to stay awake.

For the last few years, schools across the United States have made conscious efforts to delay school start times. The push for a later school start has been led by doctors and parents who believe students do not receive the suggested eight-and-a-half hours of sleep daily. A later start time does not guarantee more sleep for students as students may just go to bed even later usual. A later start time could also change the times for after-school activities for many students. As a result of a later start time, both students and teachers will come home to families late into night.

This prevents adolescents from dropping off until 11 p.m.,” (Kalish), with a different sleeping schedule caused by the hormone melatonin, which causes tiredness, it would be beneficial to start school an hour later. If most high school students don’t fall asleep until 11 p.m. and get up at 6:30 a.m., then most students will only get seven and a half hours of sleep, or less if they have to get up earlier because they live further away and have a longer commute. Studies show that after nine hours of sleep adolescents

Many people argue whether school start times should stay the same or become later in the day. Most students already don't get enough sleep during the night and that can affect their learning experience in school (Wahlstrom). However some positive effects can still come from waking up early in the morning and getting to school around the same time. Although good can come from waking up early in the morning and sleeping in, students still need later school starting times to improve their overall health.

Studies have shown High Schoolers need 8-10 hours of sleep because their bodies and brains are still growing. Doctors say that starting school earlier in the morning prevents children and teenagers from getting a full night’s sleep, which can affect their health, safety and academic performance. Motivation is key to a students success. If students had more time to get a full amount of sleep at night, they would be more energized and motivated to start out their morning with a good attitude and come to school. A student must have motivation to succeed but a student also needs to pay attention in class in order to learn.

Sleeping Schools Countless students all over the US struggle to keep their eyes open throughout the day because school classes start too early in the morning. If we were able to give an hour to students in the morning, we would see an increase in their physical mentality, their academic skill level, and an overall happier lifestyle. Many people will argue that starting school too late in the morning will cause after school activities -- such as sports and other clubs -- no time to meet before the night ends. But I must mention that we don’t need to push the start time that much later to see a huge improvement on student’s test scores, overall grades, and a student’s mood. The current school start time is unacceptable when thought about logically, and we must make the changes to have school start at a later time.

For this debate I am debating why school time should stay the same. J.C.M.S middle school in Sierra Vista has a delayed start time of 9:00 a.m., and finish school at 4:00 p.m. This affects the children who are involved if afternoon sports, most time not getting out until 6:00 p.m sometimes later. If you have homework that same night after spending two hours doing a sport you might procrastinate and not do your homework at all or you will be tired and end up making mistakes that should not have been made. An earlier start time ensures an earlier release time letting sports start earlier and homework being done at an earlier time while not as exhausted from the day.

So, they can improve the odds of adolescents getting sufficient sleep so they can thrive both physically and academically. I agree with this source, starting schools later could enhance student’s school performance academically and athletically. Starting school too early are preventing many teenagers from getting the sleep they need to start off their day. I aim to using this this source to support my claim as to why students need more sleep and how it would affect them throughout the school day. This will benefit my essay by forward explaining why school should start later in the morning and why doing this will be better for the students’

I’m pretty sure most people hate getting up super early in the morning to get to school. Am I right? Well I think it’s the worst! In my opinion, I think school should start later because it is better for one’s health and it’s better for students’ concentration in class. One other reason why school should start later is because it is more convenient.