Essay on School Start Time

As students get older and transition from elementary school to high school. The start time gets earlier. In elementary school it was not hard to get up in the morning. Most elementary schools start after 8:00 am. Most high schools in the country start very early and it’s hard to get enough sleep. With the lack of sleep most students do not do well in class and it’s hard for teachers to teach when students are not engaged. Later school start times would allow students to receive the recommended sleep and do better in school.

The American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have recommended starting middle and high school classes after 8:30 a.m. For students we have many responsibilities and so little time to sleep. A 2018 survey conducted by the GENYouth Foundation states that most students are sleep deprived due to an early start time.“66 percent of middle school students and 74 percent of high school students identified as sleep deprived”(3 Gale). Most students wake up, go school and after school most of them either have sports or a job of some type after school. When they get home they need to do homework, spend time with family and go to sleep in a reasonable time. This all hard to complete in 24 hours. Getting late start time it would help students get more sleep and be less deprived. Also, The APA has identified several ways that sleep affects individual academic performance. In order do well in school you have to complete your homework and study and with all that students have after it’s very hard to complete.“Researchers from the University of Washington and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that a delayed school start time had a positive effect on students' academic performance”(Arthur 13).When teachers don’t get enough sleep they don’t do well in teaching and same goes for the student, If students don’t get enough sleep and get a ton of homework they won’t do well in their class. There we should change the school time because students who receive the recommendations do better in school. Overall, Later school start times would allow students to receive the recommended sleep and do better in school.

Delaying school will cause less tardiness and absences. For instead, In Seattle, school and city officials recently made the shift. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the district moved the official start times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. “Seattle School District began school fifty-five minutes later than they had in previous years, students exhibited improved attendance, decreased tardiness, and higher grades”(Gale 23).Getting a little extra sleep in the morning can be vital for teens.  Once children reach puberty, their biological clock changes. They fall asleep later than older adults and young kids. Likewise, five schools that started at 8:05 had significantly lower rates of absenteeism and tardiness than the 14 schools that started at 7:25, But once those five schools moved their start time to 7:25, those advantages disappeared.“the other high school had "significantly fewer" of both in the late-start year compared to the early-start year.” (Schaffhauser 27).Delaying the start boosted the total amount of sleep on school nights for students from a median of six hours and 50 minutes, under the earlier start time, to seven hours and 24 minutes under the later start time. This improved students' attendance and people were more energetic for school. All and all, Later start times also generally correspond to improved attendance and less tardiness.

Some people think starting school later isn’t a smart choice because individual transportation would cost a lot,  and some students wouldn’t be able to pay the cost, but by changing the system members of the city council and local civil-rights leaders would help with the new schedules so it could be easier for lower-income families. For example, “Boston Public Schools offers a way for changing start times. Although people weren’t happy about it at first it all worked out in the end. “After the district announced a plan in 2017 to start most high schools later and elementary schools earlier, furious parents packed school committee meetings. Members of the city council and local civil-rights leaders declared that the new schedules would imperil lower-income families’ job security”(Dreilinger 9). Some people think starting school later isn’t a smart choice because individual transportation would cost a lot,  and some students wouldn’t be able to pay the cost. If we change the school time it would help us all, especially students and teachers. A strategy you can use is the buses for high schoolers and it can be reused for middle-schoolers and later for students in elementary school. The city and community will help to fit those who can’t do it. Essentially, with enough sleep for students and teachers they will do better in school.

School start time should be delayed because students who receive the recommended do better in school and delaying school will cause students to do better. Most students wake up, go to school and after school most of them either have sports or a job or some type of after school activities. When they get home they need to do homework, spend time with family and go to sleep in a reasonable time. Changing the school start would beneficially help students and teachers. As students we can contact local schools officials about changing the time. Parents and teachers can also by contacting media crews to help us make a beneficial change. By changing the school start time it will really help students and teachers do well in school.