Argumentative Essay on School Start Times
Do you think schools start too soon? The time a school starts can majorly affect many students. Most schools in the U.S start before 8:30, schools should begin around 8:00 and no sooner than that. Beginning later will have a constructive outcome. Some say different that this ought not to occur because of the cost it takes to roll out that improvement but generally this will make our/their schools look so much better because of grades and scores. These school areas should change the beginning time.
Right off the bat, schools have tried this theory/recommendation out and demonstrated outcomes in a positive manner. All ages that go to class should get around 7-9 hours. Some may state then they should head to sleep prior yet a simpler case is having the schools not beginning so early. At Edina High School, by Minneapolis, was the first to move their school start time later. They said, “School counselors and nurses reported fewer students seeking help for emotional problems and physical complaints. Furthermore, 92 percent of parents in Edina said their teenagers were “easier to live with.”(NEA) This claims the difference in the actions that their students were taking. It is important for minors and kids to get 7-9 hours before they start their day and you don't want a sleepy kid to attend your class. You can see that this points out how having that extra time to sleep in the morning can change a student's whole day. To add it all together knowing that this theory or recommendation has been put to the test then this should be aware of other schools that there are positives to having their school time be pushed back.
Secondly, researchers and the government agree on this topic. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) agreed on this topic by explaining it in one of their articles. CDC explained why and other reasons. For example, the CDC said, “During puberty, adolescents become sleepy later at night and need to sleep later in the morning as a result in shifts in biological rhythms.1 These biological changes are often combined with poor sleep habits (including irregular bedtimes and the presence of electronics in the bedroom).2 During the school week, school start times are the main reason students wake up when they do.3 The combination of late bedtimes and early school start times results in most adolescents not getting enough sleep.”(CDC) This shows that school times need to be changed. Puberty is a natural thing all humans will go through and we can't change that but we can change the start time of our school. There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to. It's important that kids/teens get their sleep, not getting sleep can ruin someone's day, going along with everything else happening in their life. By changing the start time of our schools that start before 8:30 should be changed it makes it easier for teens to know that they get to sleep in more now. It could make schools a better place for them when they notice that getting sleep can help their attitude and grades make a change for the better. So you can agree on why this is important when even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention writes a whole article on it.
Lastly, all the benefits of starting school later surplus the negatives. There are so many resources that show the benefits. For example, “Benefits observed from later high school start times include: Increased attendance rates, Decrease in disciplinary action, Decrease in student-involved car accidents, Increase in student GPA, Increase in state assessment scores, Increase in college admissions test scores, Increase in student attention, Decrease in student sleeping during instruction, Increase in quality of student-family interaction,” (APA)pointed out by apa.org. Knowing these, many students, parents, and teachers would be happy to see these things improving. Having these things improve could mean many things in a positive way. Minors or kids that don't do so well have their grades go up and GTA and all these things would be great. Now knowing these benefits you should know the negatives. CDC gave us a list of negatives as if we went to go to the recommended time they would like schools to start. For instance, “being overweight, not engaging in daily physical activity, suffering from symptoms of depression, engaging in unhealthy risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking tobacco, and using illicit drugs. Lastly performing poorly in school.”(CDC) Getting the list of the negatives there would be one who would want these things to happen to them. These negative effects are terrible but these are preventable. This means school times should be pushed back. This would bring so many positives and benefits and it wouldn't hurt to try.
On the flip side, to the school changing their start time means they would have to pay money. They say to change your school's time they start you pay for the start time and to the bus study. Depending on the number of students you have attended your school then that would depend on the coast. Even though you have to pay for this you can look at all the outcomes like having good grades and GPAs and having higher and sometimes keeping their scores up and doing well can earn you money. I know schools sometimes struggle with money but you can do donations and it will be worth it in the end when you see some of your students doing great things.
At the end of it, schools need to change their times to later in the morning. This is a benefit that most children/teens want and what parents and teachers should want for their children and students. Schools that are in our country have done this and only benefits have come from it. There are many researchers on why this change should happen even coming for CDC. Lastly, there are many positives and benefits from this and very few negatives. There should be no hesitation in why school districts shouldn't look into this more. Starting school later will change many ways minors and kids act and think about their school. This change needs to happen.
