Why School Should Start Later

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Pages: 2

Is it right that so many teenagers have to fight off sleep while attending class? Is it right that, at the time in which students need to be at their most alert, they are struggling to stay awake? With the current school start time of 8:30 in the morning, more than half of Santa Rosa High School students face this problem. Students in secondary schools should not have to arrive at school until 9 o'clock in the morning, which would allow them to sleep in long enough to get sufficient rest, even better grades, and still manage their lives outside of school effectively. Starting school later would allow teens to get more rest. Ask any teen on any given school day, and they will most likely express a wish to sleep longer. In 2017, a study was conducted in Seattle, Washington, where two …show more content…
Not only did it make their day easier, but it allowed them to stay alert and focused during class. A later start time would improve the quality of students' lives. Naturally, when students are more alert, they are more likely to learn. According to the study in Seattle, students in biology class showed significant improvements in their scores when allowed to start school later. On average, students with the later start times were able to earn "grades that were 4.5% higher" (Neighmond). That percentage is a big enough difference to raise the letter grades of almost half of all students. Academic success provides students with more opportunities beyond high school. If starting school later provides students with a boost this significant, it appears that starting school too early is holding many students back. Although a later start time would improve student life on many levels, it would also create new challenges. This especially holds true for students who engage in after-school activities. Obviously, starting school later also means finishing school later. Inevitably, after-school activities will also start and finish