Judith Owens, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Sleep Medicine, Children’s National Medical Center stated that, “There’s no question that later [school] start times pose significant challenges and barriers, … but [making a change to the these start times] is something within our control, something we can change to make a significant impact on the long-term health of children” (Clarkson para. 29) The issue regarding when the start to the school day should begin may not seem like a threatening topic that drastically affects our lives, but as Owens stated it has a “long-term” effect on the generations of tomorrow. In order words, the school start times do affect many individuals, not only in the present, but carries it out throughout their lives. These long-term effects may come from the result of sleep deprivation and stress piled upon students during the school year. These issues may not seem rather insignificant at its moment, but they can and will negatively affect the children. Therefore, the starting times for schools should be pushed back a least an hour to not only to benefit the students physically and mentally, but also academically, and although there are some conflicts in doing so, the overall outcome results in giving adolescents a healthier future, with a chance of reaching greater opportunities.
School start times have changed in the past, and these changes have pushed back the school start to the day about an hour in order to accommodate our changing society. The history of the modern day start times, are fairly recent; the times that schools begin today is not the same as those in the 20th century. In the early 20th century, school’s started around 9 a.m. to accommodate for the many children that helped with family business...
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Despite popular opinion, to be beneficial, schools should continue on their current schedules, and not start later. Starting schools later can have a variety of positive and negative consequences on students. Schools currently are at a time that gives students enough lesson time to learn subjects, but still have time to relax and take part in other activities after school. Also many families depend on the time school starts to have easy transportation to school and work. Starting schools later will take away students time to do activities of their choice such as spend time with their families, socialize with others, and participate in extracurricular activities.
Although sizeable information exists for the concepts that early school start times are destructive to adolescents’ health and well-being along with delaying school start times results in real and constant benefits to students, the current debate among school districts in the United States regarding school systems later start times for middle and high schools continues to spark controversy.
School start times have been receiving attention across the nation since the mid-1990s (Editorial). Many school districts have considered the benefits of later start times, others have already made the leap of starting classes later in the day, while others are still reluctant to change schedules, questioning if there is any noticeable difference in academic achievement to be seen. However, almost all the school districts that have made changes thus far have reported benefits not only in student performance and achievement, but also in overall student attitude (Gormly). The reason for this is linked to teenagers’ circadian rhythm: the “biological rhythm that governs our sleep-wake cycles” (Carrell 4). In order for students to achieve academic success, schools should push back start times to better accommodate teenagers’ circadian rhythm.
Boergers, who is also co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, said these finding have important implications for public policy. “The result of the study add to a growing body of research demonstrating important health benefits of later school start times for adolescents,” she said. “If we more closely align school schedules with adolescents circadian rhythms and sleep needs, we will have students who are more happier, alert, and better prepared to learn.”
Studies have suggested that the average adolescent brain doesn’t even start to fully function until around 9:30 am. Many schools already use the suggested later arrival time, so students can be ready to learn when they arrive at school. Another thing that everyone knows or remembers about high school, school is all. of the homework that needs to be done for tomorrow. Plus projects that are due.
The alarm beeps again sounding like a fire alarm going off. School starts before 8am. Using your fingers to hold open your eyes and dragging your feet, you get in the car and drive yourself to school. Will you even be able to make it through your day? School days for teens start to early. Teens aren't getting the sleep recommended for a healthy start to their day. Later start times for middle and high schools are proven to benefit both students and teachers.
15% percent of high schools start from at least 8:30 or later and 40% of high schools start before 8:00 a.m. Therefore, school should be later because of adolescent mental strength advancing, adolescent health improving and the safety it a later start time provides for teens.
Out of 18,000 public schools, the average start time of school is 7:59 am. Out of these 18,000 schools, 1,000 of them have pushed back start times. A big reason more schools have not pushed back start times is transportation. It is difficult to run bus schedules to accommodate everyone’s schedule. Schools with large districts reuse the same buses to save money, but this means one age group will get picked up early and another age group will be picked up later.
School Start Time Study: Final Report Summary. (August 2001). Retrieved November 13, 2002, from http://education.umn.edu/carei/Programs/start_time/default.html
Firstly, if schools started later, the struggle of getting up in the morning would become more manageable and possibly completely eliminated. In Liz Szabo’s article “Most teens start school too early”, she states “Many parents have asked schools
This is the perfect equilibrium between too early and too late. A start time at 8:30 allows for a hypothetical extra hour of sleep for a student but also ensures that the school day will not drag on too long in the afternoon. This shift in start time will have a resounding impact on students’ performance in school as well as their personal well-being. A recent study conducted with the cooperation of eight schools affirms this proclamation concluding, “In a recent study of eight U.S. high schools that delayed their start times, researchers found improvements in kids ' grades, attendance and car crash rates”. (Norton). If Brookwood is truly committed to the tradition of excellence they claim, then this statistic alone should be enough persuasion to make the change. Students who get adequate sleep are in turn healthier, more enthusiastic learners which any high school should strive to have. Another reason that shifting the initial start time of Brookwood High School would be beneficial centers around the concept that there are particular hours in the day that students are proven to be
The traditional School schedule is set up so students go to school for 9 months and then have a 3-month summer Vacation. This system dates back to a time when most people's lively hood was farming; therefore, the educational schedule was built around the times of harvest and planting. But in modern day, with so little farmers this schedule is severely out dated. The long break in the summer encourages students to forget knowledge that they learned that previous year, forcing teachers to review information for 4-6 weeks, time that could be well used teaching students new and enriching things. This schedule also isn't very cost effective, for three months schools stand empty and unused, which is ridicules due to how over crowded the educational system is. Does it really make sense to use an outdated schedule when with every other aspect of our lives we want the newest and the best?
A new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that 50 percent of high school students say that there school starts at eight a.m. or earlier. The poll also showed that 1 out of 5 teens said they start school before 7:30 a.m. Students need a later school start time because they don’t need the...
Don't you hate waking up early for school in the morning? Most high school students wake up before the sun rises just to become ready for school. Teenage brains do not begin to function that early considering many are tired from staying up late the previous night. The National Sleep Foundation reported that most teens do not retain enough shuteye, one study found that only 15% reported sleeping eight 1/2 hours on school nights. That fact was extremely true for me when I attended high school. I barely was able to wake up, get dressed, and be in school on time since I was so tired. In my opinion school days should start later, precisely in between 9- 10 o'clock. If the school day started later attendance would improve, students will be more prepared, and student's attitudes and grades may improve.
Should school start at 7:00 or should it start later in the morning? In Douglas High School, start times are at 7:30 in the morning. Changing the school schedule to a later start time would result in many other changes affecting a lot of people. According to the Sleep Foundation, "The change will affect the entire community, from students and parents to businesses, libraries, police, youth sports clubs, bus drivers and many others." Altering the school schedule would influence numerous aspects of people’s lives. Highly coordinated routines would have to be changed and adapted to the new schedule. A later release time would take time off of students’ free time in the afternoon. Clubs, sports, jobs, and other after-school activities would have