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Colin Conneely

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 3

14 April 2022

Better Sleep Later School Start

Whether or not schools should start later has been a widely debated topic for a long time

across the world. Scientists and researchers have concluded schools should start later to help

students perform better in school. A large sum of students face sleep deprivation and other

symptoms of little sleep due to the early rise necessary to get to school on time. Schools should

push their start time later because students and teachers will experience better sleep duration, less

depression, and increased academic performance.

First, schools should push their start times later because teenagers face excessive sleep

loss in school settings. Studies have shown for years that to perform well in school, students

must get adequate amounts of sleep. Since most students average less than eight hours of sleep

on school nights, they face issues staying awake in class and even have worse grades (Jacob &

Rockoff, 2011). According to the American Physiological Association (APA, 2014), only about

10% of 15-17-year-olds reach the optimal amount of sleep every night. “Teenagers struggling to

get the recommended amount of sleep per night, often experience emotional issues such as

depression, anxiety, and moodiness (Wahlstrom, 2016); therefore, discipline issues could result

in the lack of sleep among teenagers in high school.” This shows that if students aren’t getting

enough sleep during the week, they may become disruptive to the class and face mental health

problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics called for secondary schools to adjust their start
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times to begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m (Keown, 2020). The fact that pediatrics in the United

States even call for a later start time means there needs to be a change. In order for school to be

less of a chore and more interactive, schools must allow students to get adequate sleep. Students

are at the age where their bodies need the most amount of sleep in order to function and grow. If

these kids are barred of sleep due to early rises to get to school, then they may face health issues.

In a study conducted by the Oxford University Press, female students in an all-girls school in

Singapore, experienced a delayed school start time of 45 minutes. Their original start was 7:30

a.m. and they switched to 8:15 a.m. for nine months. After the nine months, the study showed

that the students on average woke up 31.6 minutes later than before the change of start time. This

study shows that if start times are delayed, students will gain large amounts of sleep. If schools

don’t switch to later start times, then these pupils could have bad sleep cycles for a long time.

The next reason schools should have later start times is because students and teachers will

experience less depression. Students expressed lower levels of depression after their school in

Singapore delayed their start time (June C. 2018). This study clearly shows how even a 45-

minute delay in school start could result in much fewer depressive symptoms on young students.

Students who experience the normal early start times said they experience emotional issues like

depression, anxiety, and moodiness (Keown, 2020). This goes hand in hand with the study in

Singapore. The study by Keown shows how if students are in the popular early rise school

schedules, then they may experience much higher levels of depression, anxiety, and other

emotional issues. According to Gideon Dunster, a University of Washington doctoral student in

biology, the time in which someone falls a sleep is biologically determined, but the time when

someone wakes up is socially determined (Urton, 2018). This means that a person is in charge of

when they go to bed and their body naturally falls asleep at a certain time. Contrasting that is
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when a person wakes up, which is determined by a person’s social obligations such as school, or

work. This science is what causes the mental health issues students face with early school starts.

If schools don’t switch to a later start time, then there could be a real mental health crisis among

adolescents in the world.

Conversely, it could be argued that an early start time is better because it cuts

transportation costs and fits into the schedule of parents better. When start times are earlier,

schools spend less on transportation since there is less traffic early in the morning. When school

starts earlier, parents also may have an easier time preparing their child for school, and

transporting them to school. However, despite the fact early start times cut transportation costs,

schools are protected from having to pay for transportation under section number 1361 of the

School Code. Number 1365 of the school code also prevents schools from demanding

compensation from families to transport their children. It can still be argued that early start times

fit better into parents’ schedules, However, lots of high school students drive themselves to

school and the students that don’t drive have free access to buses and vans.

Finally, schools should push their start times later because students can experience better

academic performance. In a study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington,

students at Roosevelt High School in Seattle who took classes such as biology after later start

times experienced on average a 4.5% grade increase (Urton, 2018). This means that a later

school start time directly correlates with an increase in grade percentage for students. When the

test scores of students who attend early start schools are compared to students who attend later

start schools, there is a 1% improvement in reading scores and a 2% increase in math scores

(Regoli, 2018). This also shows that a later school start time directly results in higher test scores
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for students. If schools don’t switch to a later start time, then their students could be missing out

on much better grades and better academic performance.

In conclusion, schools should push to have later start times because students will have

better sleep duration, less depression, and better academic performance. It is clear students who

have had later start times have reaped the benefits of the extra sleep. If schools change to later

starts, then they will have less issues with failing students, discipline, and mental health of their

students.
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Works Cited

Keown, Holly, et al. "Does Start Time at High School Really Matter? Studying the Impact of

High School Start Time on Achievement, Attendance, and Graduation Rates of High

School Students." AASA Journal of Scholarship & Practice, vol. 17, no. 2, summer 2020,

p. 16+. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A633383743/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=cbd60d68. Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.

Lo, June C., et al. "Sustained Benefits of Delaying School Start Time on Adolescent Sleep and

Well-being." SLEEP, vol. 41, no. 6, June 2018, p. 1E+. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A642960807/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=a274d8c8. Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.

Regoli, Natalie. "15 Major Pros and Cons of Early School Start Times." ConnectUS, Sept. 2019,

connectusfund.org/15-major-pros-and-cons-of-early-school-start-times. Accessed 23

Mar. 2022.

Urton, James. "Teens get more sleep, show improved grades nd attendance with later school start

time, researchers find." UW News, University of Washington, 12 Dec. 2018,

www.washington.edu/news/2018/12/12/high-school-start-times-study/. Accessed 24 Mar.

2022.
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