Izabela Phelps

ARC
Mrs. Walroth
19 December, 201
Time Matters
All around the world schools are starting before the sun even has a chance to rise.
Why? What's the rush? The brain is not even awake by the time teachers start pushing
information down throats, and teachers expect students to remember it, crazy right? That
is why schools should start later. Around 9 or 10 am, that way students can get sleep in
and not feel beaten up and tired in the morning, and get a good breakfast. In Sleep For
Teenagers Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8
1/2 hours is enough). Most teens do not get enough sleep one study found that only
15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights. (Teens and Sleep). Many teachers
do not want school to start later, because they believe that students would just stay up
later because they know school will be later in the day. However many will not take
advantage of school starting later, and will only use it to better their grades. If school
started later, not as many kids would be late, teens would have better grades, and better
overall health.
Many people think that it is okay for school to start early, because teachers want
to get out of school at a reasonable time. However them teaching at 7 am is a waste of
time because no student is able to follow along because they are still half asleep. I know
that many might be against this, however St. George's School, a private school in Rhode
Island took on this challenge and there result were The number of students reporting at
least eight hours of sleep jumped from 16 percent to 55 percent after the change and a
two-month trial period. First-period tardiness decreased by nearly half.(Soothing the
Moody Beast, Kate Cerve). This means that many students take a later time for school
seriously and use it to help get better grades.
If school started later there wouldn't be as many kids being late. It would be easier
to wake up at a later time. Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom also found improvement in attendance
and enrollment rates, increased daytime alertness, and decreased student-reported
depression". (A study by Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom). With all the research students are having a
hard time waking up at 6 am, that is why if school time is pushed back students would get
to sleep in and then students wouldn't be feeling rushed, and end up being late. A study
showed that The poll found about a quarter of high school students fall asleep during
class or while doing homework at least once a week. (Inglee, Jenny).
With school starting later students would be able to focus on the teacher better
leading to getting better grades. Ever been so tired that even though a person is speaking
the focus on the speaker is just not there? That is how many kids and teenagers feel,
trying to focus but there mind is elsewhere. If students would have more time to sleep,
when they arrive at school they will be all focus and ready to pay attention."About 30%
of students report falling asleep in class at least once a week, and studies consistently
connect less sleep with lower grades in school and on standardized tests". (School Should
Start Later So Teens Can Sleep). This shows that students are just not getting enough
sleep, which is making it impossible for them to learn under those circumstances. Over
all if students had more sleep there grades would most likely improve.
They would be more focused and will want to actually participate in class. Jenny

Inglee said in her article, the change in start time was twice as large for students in the
bottom third of test-scorers.(Does the School Day Really Need to Start So Early). This
means that the students who did get to sleep in and arrived a bit later, got over all better
test scores. Overall the schools who start later have better overall grades, and higher
scores on exams and ACT's.
Starting school later, is good for the overall health. "Evan analyzed studies linking poor
sleep to increased reliance of substances like caffeine, tobacco and alcohol and the effect
of sleep deprivation on academic performance". ( Academys Adolescent Sleep, Time).
The reason teens go to these drugs is because they are so stressed about getting
good grades, leads them to staying up late to study. Which then they are exhausted at
school, and them they stress out because they can't focus, so they turn to tobacco to calm
their nerves. Tobacco and all the other drugs are not good for teenage body's, or anybody.
Kate Cerve had a good point, To make it to first period, students must wake up between
5:45 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. to shower, eat breakfast and travel to school, according to the
article. They might have to wake up earlier if they're riding the bus. This means that in
order to get on school on time even if they wake up 15 min late students will have to cut
out important things in there day such as breakfast, persona hygiene, which both affect
parts of your health. Many teenagers are not physiologically ready to fall asleep until 11
p.m. Their ideal wake-up time is about 8 a.m.(Science Of Sleep, Kate Cerve).
The teenage body is not able to fall asleep early, students will try to fall asleep,
however will be up thinking for a long period of time or on their phones and then all the
sudden it is 1 am in the morning,yet they have to be at school at 7 am leaving students
with hardly any sleep.
In order for students to be well rested, health and ready to learn school need to be pushed
back a couple hours. Students will come in energetic and eager to learn, teacher who are
against it now will think, why didn't we do this sooner? So for the sake of our health and
we'll being let's get all the schools to start later, starting one school at a time

Workcited

Cerve, Kate. "Early High School Start times Affect Teens' Ability to Learn, Studies Find."
Latest Breaking News from Hilton Head & Beaufort, SC | The Island Packet. N.p., 21
Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
Inglee, Jenny. "Does the School Day Really Need to Start So Early?" Does the School
Day Really Need to Start So Early?, Mar.-Apr. 2013. Web.
"Pediatrics Group Says Teens Should Start School Later." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 19 Dec.
2014.
"School Start Time and Sleep." School Start Time & Sleep 2- National Sleep Foundation.
N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
"Teens and Sleep." Sleep for Teenagers. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2014.