Why school should start earlier
The question of whether or not high schools should start later in the morning has been a topic of discussion for quite some time now. In response to many students citing their lack of sleep and low energy for school on a daily basis, I wished to give my own feedback to the matter at hand.
Both starting and ending school later in the day are great options for improving a regular school day´s schedule. Most notably, students would be able to sleep in longer on a school morning and be more alert and attentive throughout the day. Likewise, teachers would most likely see a higher number of students wanting to participate in class discussions, projects, and activities. In addition, students would be able to receive a proper breakfast for their busy days with additional time in the morning.
Implementing a later start time at Orcutt Academy and other high schools alike would solve a lot of problems for students.
On the other hand, some students may not be too keen on the idea that school would have to end later in the day to make up for a later start-time. Sports, dinner, work, and time to do homework are just some of the things that would have to be pushed back later in the afternoon as a result of a shifted schedule.
In my personal opinion, a later start-time would be popular among the majority of students, yet an earlier start time could be more beneficial in the long run. Orcutt Academy should start early because students would have a large amount of the afternoon to participate in any of their extracurricular activities.
For those who claim they are too tired to wake up in the morning that early, it would be wise to merely go to bed earlier. It’s a lazy mentality and people regardlessly have the tendency to procrastinate. Starting school later would only feed into this procrastination.
To conclude, Orcutt Academy and schools should maintain and early start time and perhaps consider an earlier start time to maximize studentś time to do whatever they need/want to do after school hours. A good suggestion would be to push the start time to 7:30 in the morning and ending school at 2:00 in the afternoon.
Hopefully, we can see some changes with students and their energy levels in high school with an earlier start and release time.
I am an exchange student from Norway, a country far north. I am super excited to be here at Orcutt Academy and to write for the Spartan Oracle. I do not...
Dear Mrs. Evensmoen,
I wrote an essay in response to your article you wrote. It was a pleasure reading your article hope you enjoy mine if your have the time. Heres a link to my article. Feel free to email me if there is any problems.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1THm8knFdNsNjysG6hmIagrK3pAA8NHxLDJIpdbfzTHc/edit?usp=sharing
The AAP recommends that teenagers get eight to eleven hours of sleep a night. In a 2015 study the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 73% of high schoolers and 58% of middle schoolers do not get enough sleep. If one were to spend some time in a public high school they would not be shocked by this figure. For many students fatigue is a constant fact of life.
Many people (such as the author of this article) would simply suggest that teenagers should go to sleep earlier, but that might not be a reasonable course of action. In the early 1990’s Brown University completed a study that found evidence that circadian rhythms cause the sleep-wake patterns of adolescents to be delayed. With puberty comes a phase shift with adolescents going to sleep later and sleeping in later to fulfill their sleep needs. As Kyla Wahlstrom, a senior research fellow at the University of Minnesota, puts it, “The conflict between adolescents’ inherent circadian phase delay and rigid school start times results in chronic sleep deprivation.” The cause of this delayed sleep pattern is that adolescents have a delayed melatonin release. Melatonin is the chemical that is released to signal to the brain that it is time to sleep. Melatonin release follows a 24- hour daily cycle that ideally creates a consistent sleep pattern. This makes it unnatural for a teenagers to get up in the early hours of the day to be able to get to school on time.
There is an inverse relationship between the time the first bell rings and the amount of sleep that high schoolers get, the earlier the bell, the less sleep for the average high schooler. A study in 2011 found that in New Jersey if the day started earlier it would result in less sleep, more weekday naps, and more night awakenings. In 2014 the University of Minnesota surveyed more than 9,000 students with a variety of school start times. They found, not surprisingly, that students got more sleep the later the school day began.
Your argument doesn’t make much sense and I personally believe that if Orcutt Academy starts earlier it would be detrimental to the students and hinder all of the students education.
This article is completely and utterly incorrect.😤
While I understand your point about more time for after school activities and such I have to disagree with your point that kids should just go to bed earlier. Many kids don’t have this option. Lets take for example my experience. While I am a part of the marching band that goes until 10pm sometimes that isn’t a fair club to base off of because a large amount of people are not involved in that. What I do know is that there are many after school clubs that go until an hour after school approximately. Factoring this hour plus the amounts of homework that come from all classes, studying for future tests in multiple classes, eating, some socializing (which is important for mental health), a job that parents might require like mine do, and health things such as showering and getting ready for bed it isn’t easy or most of the time possible for a student to go to bed early. It would not be a fair point to say it is simply procrastination of what I assume you meant sleep since you never stated what students were procrastinating. If you are going to use that point I suggest having more evidence to back that claim instead of that it’s your personal opinion.
I really like your paper I hope you have a great day. 😄
Teens going to sleep later isn’t from laziness, or procrastination: it’s from the change in their circadian rhythm. Not only this, starting schools alter would make teens’ grades and mental health worse. Every study from the AMA to the AAP has proved it: starting schools later is not just “a popular opinion,” it’s a necessity completely being ignored by the school systems. Teenagers perform better academically when school times match their circadian rhythms better.
Teens going to sleep later isn’t from laziness, or procrastination: it’s from the change in their circadian rhythm. Not only this, starting schools alter would make teens’ grades and mental health worse. Every study from the AMA to the AAP has proved it: starting schools later is not just “a popular opinion,” it’s a necessity completely being ignored by the school systems. Teenagers perform better academically when school times match their circadian rhythms better.
I need statistics/studies that say that starting schools later won’t be beneficial. I’m doing this as a debate topic in my English class. I don’t agree that schools shouldn’t start later, but I got unlucky…
I think school should start earlier…..