Later School Start Times Persuasive Essay Example

Imagine the feeling of an alarm clock going off at 6 A. M and you have to get ready for a day of work and meetings but throughout the day, you are just exhausted. Teenagers have the same problem and it is not just adults. Teenagers have to wake up for school at a very early hour and make it through the day missing needed sleep for teens. Brunswick City Schools should have a later start time because students could then get better sleep, more academic success, and a delay in starting time can help with teens’ mental health. Brunswick City Schools start times should start later because students would get better sleep. If students were to get better sleep, they wouldn’t be so exhausted in classes. One student told Richter, “Carolyn Walworth, 17, often reaches a breaking point around 11 p.m., when she collapses in tears. For 10 minutes or so, she just sits at her desk and cries, overwhelmed by unrelenting school demands. She is desperately tired and longs for sleep. But she knows she must move through it because more assignments in physics, calculus, or French await her. She finally crawls into bed around midnight or 12:30 a.m. The next morning, she fights to stay awake in her first-period U.S. history class, which begins at 8:15. She is unable to focus on what’s being taught, and her mind drifts”(Richter). This shows that when going to bed so late, she’s exhausted the next day at school and struggles to focus in her classes. She is for sure not the only student experiencing this problem. The article also says, “more than 87 percent of high school students in the United States get far less than the recommended eight to 10 hours, and the amount of time they sleep is decreasing — a serious threat to their health, safety, and academic success”(Richter). This statistic shows that many high schoolers around the country have sleep problems due to the amount of school work and the early start times. So, to help this problem, school starting times should be later than they already are. I don’t get the 8-10 hours of sleep recommended because I also have other activities out of school. This forces me and many other students to stay up late causing them to be tired the next day. So, delaying school start times would be very beneficial for students.  School start times should also start later because it is proven that a later start time can even give students more academic success. With a later start time, students are already less sleepy and more attentive during classes because they were able to get more sleep. The article mentions, Phillip Reed, a theater teacher at McLean High School in Fairfax County, said his students seem more focused and energized with the later start to the school day” (Huang). This shows that a later start time does help students focus better in their classes which makes it beneficial for a later start time. If students are more focused and attentive, this may help them do better academically and get better testing scores. The article also states that Sandy Evans (Vice Chairman of the Fairfax County School Board), "She said the improvement to student health and academics is worth the cost of delaying school start times”(Huang). This also shows how even members of other school boards see how useful the later starting times are and how it helps students. This helps prove that school starting times should be delayed. I am a more attentive learner in my later classes because I feel less sleepy and tired. This causes and helps me do better academically in those classes compared to my earlier classes. In conclusion, Brunswick City Schools need to delay their starting times. Another reason that schools should start later is that it would help them be better mental health. Stanford Medicine News Center says, “Sleep deprivation increases the likelihood teens will suffer myriad negative consequences, including an inability to concentrate, poor grades, drowsy-driving incidents, anxiety, and depression”(Richter). A later start time would help kids get better sleep. So, the quote shows that a later start time would help decrease the likelihood of the mental health issues that the article listed. This helps show why Brunswick City schools should push back school start times. Stanford Medicine News Center also implements a statement saying, “Yet when they enter their high school years, they find themselves at schools that typically start the day at a relatively early hour. So their time for sleep is compressed, and many are jolted out of bed before they are physically or mentally ready”(Richter). This shows that students are getting forced to go to school at this early hour and their bodies as teenagers are not physically or mentally ready. So, schools should delay their starting time to help with the issue of students because it’s going to affect them mentally. This is because they need this sleep. Personally, a later start time would help me mentally because I lose lots of sleep over school and it adds a lot of effects into my day including my school day itself. The early start times stress me out as a student, and they need to be changed. Finally, Brunswick City Schools should delay their starting time to even help students mentally. Some people would argue that school start times should stay the same because students would be just as exhausted as they are already in classes anyway. Nicole Curtis experienced the new start times in Fairfax County and said, “she feels less tired this year, compared to her earlier middle school start time last year” (Huang). This shows how a student feels less tired during the school day showing that a later start time does make a difference in student tiredness.Philp Reed, a high school teacher in Fairfax County says, “ his students seem more focused and energized with the later start to the school day”(Huang). This gives a teacher’s perspective to show that a later start time does make his students more energized compared to an earlier start time. So, Brunswick City Schools should try the same and delay school starting times. In conclusion, Brunswick City Schools should delay their starting times so students can get enough sleep, have better academic success, and students mentally. An early start time is not working. So, Brunswick City Schools should take after Fairfax County and give later start times a shot.