Persuasive Essay: We Should Start School Later

Although that is still slightly true, getting to sleep will properly restore a child’s immune system. This makes it so that in the morning, their painful migraine will become a slight ache. Lots of absences are reported each day nationwide. About 20,000 absences are reported each week only in the midwest region of the United States. This needs to be changed because so many children miss out on school lessons that may be beneficial and when they do the make up work for it they don’t get the same learning experience.

Many early starting high schools have changed their starting times because students grades were dropping and they were not as prepared and focused. The start time here at Mentor is affecting the student 's grades and overall mental health, however, there are many ways that we can fix this issue. Mentor High School starts at 7:22 A.M. and at that time the sun is still rising so some students have to walk to the bus stop in the dark. With extracurricular activities, sports, and homework most students do not have time to relax and spend time with friends and family. According to the national sleep foundation it is natural that teenagers are not able to fall asleep before 11 P.M.

Most middle schools and high schools start school between the times of 7:30-7:45. Teens are very tired and do not want to go to school because of how early they have to wake up this has caused there to be many tardies to school. Mt school starts at 7:45 and I still think that we should push that start time back. A reasonable start time would be 8:30 and ending time would be around 3:50. This would cause teens to get much more sleep and not be as late to school.

According to a 2010 survey published in The Journal of Adolescent Health, only 8% of high school students get the recommended amount of sleep which is nine hours, 23% of high school students get six hours of sleep, and 10% get 5 hours of hours. After school activities and the amount of homework contribute to the little amount of sleep teenagers are getting. Most students have after school activities such as jobs and sports, so they get home later and still have about 5 hours of homework every night. Sleep deprivation is a serious problem in teenagers that gets overlooked by many people. The reason teenagers are sleep deprived is because of the start time of schools and the amount of homework students are given.

Have you ever woken up groggy and contemplated not going to school with only 5 hours since you hit the hay? Well, I understand your pain. Throughout my life it has been getting harder and harder to get enough sleep with the increasing workload. Pushing all things aside, school should start later because not only will it improve the health and concentration of students, but it will also be more convenient for everyone. First of all, a later school start will improve one’s health.

Delaying Starting Time Do you feel exhausted when you wake up in the morning to go to school? Did you doze off in an important class? Consider this: What if schools started too early? Usually High School and Middle School starting times begin at 7 A.M in the morning, making teenagers wake up around 5:00 A.M to 6:30 A.M. causing teenagers that stayed up last night weary and fatigued when they arrive at school. Sleep is an enormous part of growth, health, and prevention of stress, think about what happens when you lack sleep.

At this point in a teenager’s life, their internal body clock is not functioning properly. Their body clock is set different from the other age groups, such as adults and children. It’s proven that teenagers just naturally want to stay awake in the later hours of the night, and then sleep in later in the mornings. According to a National Sleep foundation poll, at least 28% of teenagers fall asleep in their first class of the day. Someone could argue that this just makes going to their first class a complete waste of time.

Only 20% of adolescents are getting the recommended 9 hours of sleep.Adolescent have later sleep schedules than adults which makes them not able to fall asleep till 11 pm. With school starting less than 8 hours away. Adolescent are not getting the sleep they need. Yet this problem has not been solved. Early school starting times negatively affect High school students; therefore schools should start later.

But starting school at a later time helps give students the energy they need to the day ahead. They are wrong because according The National Sleep Foundation that “87 percent of high school students in the United States aren’t getting the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep.” (Herrington 20). When schools start early kids are not getting the sleep they need so they can do the best they can in school and in extra curricular

After a week of an unacceptable sleep schedule, students experience short and long term memory loss, trouble thinking and concentrating, and a drop in important hormone levels. Do you still think we are capable of maintaining perfect grades under these circumstances? A few months of insufficient sleep weakens teens’ immune systems and causes them to gain weight. High schools, colleges, and employers prioritize perfect attendence, yet how are we supposed to achieve this when constnant ilness is always in the way? Once the rough sleep routine has gone on for a year or so, adolescents will have an increased risk of heart disease, a risen blood pressure, and a higher risk for diabetes.