School Start Times

School start times are a widely debated topic across the United States. This debate has started when recent evidence came through. Many experts have been trying to push the start times back but it had never gone through. School districts aren’t open to the idea of changing the times. School districts should move the start time later based on the age of the students because with more sleep students are less prone to sleep deprivation and students also perform better in sports and school with the required amount of sleep. Some people think that school starts times shouldn’t change because of extra curricular activities and sports. “Pushing back start times also means pushing back dismissal times too. This can negatively affect students participating in afterschool activities. They would get out later and ultimately would have less time for homework anyway,” (School Start Times).

This piece of evidence shows that even if we push back the start times then they still may not get enough sleep and not get all of their work done. “Teenagers need on an average of 9.25 hours of sleep per night for brain development,” (Alic). But if a student has multiple papers of work to get done that night they still may not reach the average time for sleep. School start times should stay the same to allow students to pursue sports, work, homework, and any other personal interests most nights of the week. Based on collected evidence one reason that schools need to push back start times is because of sleep deprivation. “Sleep deprivation is a widespread health problem among teens in the United States,” (Alic). Sleep deprivation is a very serious illness that more teens need more sleep and that can be prevented or reduced by pushing back the start times.

“A 2006 poll found that only twenty percent of teens get adequate sleep on school nights: by the end of high school they averaged fewer than seven hours, and most teens reported being tired throughout the day,” (Alic). If the start times were pushed back, more students would get more sleep through the night and be less exhausted throughout the day. Pushing back the start times could reduce/prevent sleep deprivation. Most experts say that students perform better in sports and/or school with the adequate sleep.

“Evidence shows that schools districts that changed the start time to 8:30 am have higher graduation rates,” (Sleep Now Learn Later). When students get the right amount of sleep each night it affects more than just how tired they are. “Later school start times are associated with more sleep and better performance in high school students,” (Sleepmore in Seattle). Not only is it good for the students to get better grades, but it also looks better on the school districts too.

Changing the start time to just a little bit later can make a huge impact on the student and the school district. Based on the evidence, it is clear that schools should push back the start times based on age. Most children from the first to the fifth grade need more sleep but they don’t have the homework that the teens have. That also means they can go to sleep at an earlier time. These reasons and many more are why teens need a later start time than other grades. Does changing the start times for school districts affect the students in a positive way.

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