Nearly all students struggle to wake up and get to class in the mornings for a few reasons. School starts on average at 8:00am. Some as early as 7:40 am. This is a flaw in the system because teens in adolescence have different sleep cycles than adults and this should be taken into account when preparing the future of our nation for the world. School should start at 8:30 am because of the negative effects insufficient sleep can have on students. First of all, students are negatively affected academically. According to the California Academy of Science, “students with an adequate amount of sleep, 8-10 hours have better test scores” (Smyth). Students’ test scores can determine what college they go to or what job they will have. Students are handicapped by lack of sleep in the classroom. They struggle to stay focused and retain information as well as someone who has the recommended amount of sleep. Next, little sleep can have numerous health risks outside of school. The U.S Dept. of Health and Human Services states “Insufficient sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks such as being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs” (“Most”). Teens could get in severe trouble or even get addicted to drugs and alcohol Because …show more content…
The california academy of science also states “many teenagers might go to sleep later at night if they don't have to get up as early, which would negate the value of the later school start time” (Smyth). However, I argue that students would not take advantage of the later start time. The national school boards association's points out that “the sleep-wake cycle shifts during adolescence leads to teenagers’ nateral tendency to fall asleep later and wake up later” (“Making”). Because of this, the average student will fall asleep at 11:00pm and wake up at 8:00am