21st century speech

What to get rid of in the 21st century?
Whether it is about the teachers or the school lunches the majority of teenagers persistently complain about school, yet there is one issue that seems to bother teenagers a lot more than others; early school starts. Many will argue that we are just giving in to the demands of the teenage generation, arguing that school starting times have been the same for years without problems, but life in the 21st century has changed dramatically over the past decade and to improve life even more we must get rid of early school starts.
The majority of secondary schools in the UK start at 9am, with some starting a bit before or after 9am. The first lesson of the day following closely after; in this lesson the bulk of teenage students are unmotivated, unfocused and uncooperative, why? Teenagers hate waking up early, there at an age where they go to bed at 11pm or onward; some teenagers go to bed at 11pm but don’t fall asleep till 12pm. They then have to wake up at roughly 7am for school, resulting in only 7-8 hours of sleep when they should be getting 8-9. This lack of sleep makes them cranky for the first lesson of the school day; some teenagers may even fall asleep in this lesson, however if the lesson started later, teenagers may focus more during lessons in addition to having a better attitude towards learning in general and paying attention in class. Why don’t teenagers just go to bed early to get a sufficient amount of sleep? Firstly it would make sense if teenagers who are complaining they get very little sleep to go to bed earlier, this way they get the recommended amount of sleep. Secondly it would cause a lot of hassle for the schools to change their starting times to fit the needs of teenage students, so why do it? Scientifically the sleeping patterns adolescents are much different than those of adults and kids. Dr Ying of the Institute Of Sleep said “During teen years the body’s circadian rhythm, (in other words the body’s biological clock), is reset. This tells them to fall asleep later and wake up earlier” he added “Early school starts may also play a role in loss of sleep. Teenagers who fall asleep at midnight only fit in 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night.” A few hours off the recommended time of sleep may seem like very little, nonetheless over time this can create a noticeable sleep deficit, leading to inferior exam results and a shorter attention span. Scientific research shows that a later start time will benefit teenage students hugely, conversely it also aids teachers. If adolescents got there required amount of sleep their attitudes towards school would be more positive, leading to better behaviour in class. Furthermore without the students being moody they would be more cooperative during the lesson which gives the teachers a better teaching experience. A quote from a teacher at Elmore Secondary proves students who have their guideline amount of sleep are better to teach: “I hate teaching teens first lesson, they’re uncooperative and a drag to teach, however there are times in the year when they are not in there zombie phase for first lesson; when school starts at 10pm on the first day of every term.” This proves by changing the school start time by just one hour a positive result can be noted. Experts have tied lack of sleep to poorer results, emotional distress, the ability to pay attention and slowed responses. With the national average of A* grades decreasing there is no better time for school start times to be changed for the teenage generation in the 21st century; to improve their quality of learning, giving them a better chance in the ever increasingly difficult exams they have to take. This will be a change likely to happen worldwide as study in Russia and other countries in Europe have shown that schools that start later than normal have students that obtain better exam results.