Why School Should Start Later

Children under 18 are required to go to grade school. A normal school day is usually six to eight hours. Children are required to attend school five days a week. School days begin too early and adolescents do not get enough sleep.
Children are required to be at school early each morning, therefore children have to get up even earlier. Schools should begin their day at 8:30a.m. or later (Reddy 1). Only fifteen percent of schools begin at 8:30a.m. or at a later time (Reddy 2). Due to the low percentage of schools beginning at 8:30a.m. or later, children have to get up extremely early. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior in 2011 represented that sixty-nine percent of students in high school in the United States get eight or fewer hours of sleep on a school night (“Wake Up Calls” 1).
Twenty to thirty percent of high school adolescents and six percent of middle school aged children fall asleep in class each day (“Wake Up Calls” 2). Since many children fall asleep in their classes each day, children do not get many hours of sleep at night. Children falling asleep in class is not based upon their attention span, but due to their lack of sleep.
Most children are involved in extracurricular activities such as sports, part-time jobs, and involving themselves with their families.
Most children and young adults need to sleep approximately nine hours each night (“Wake Up Calls” 1). During the process of puberty, the sleep-cycle of adolescents changes and they get their most comfortable sleep between the night hour of eleven and early morning hour of eight (“Wake Up Calls” 1). At 11:00p.m., most adolescents are just getting home from their part time jobs and aren’t table to get into bed until by midnight at the earliest. Adolescents getting home late and still having to get up extremely early make them extremely tired and unable to function correctly. Jackson Hole High School, of Wyoming, changed it’s time to begin school to 8:55a.m. and the percentage of teenage car accidents decreased by seventy percent (“Wake Up Calls” 2). The high percentage of car accidents decreasing when a high school created a later start time, allowing adolescents to sleep later, represents how an extra hour of sleep can improve the functioning of a teenager. If schools altered their start times to only 9:00a.m., could make a huge difference on one’s sleep
schedule.
Sleep is one of the most important factors in everyone’s lives and alters their attitude and ability to function. Teenagers, more than any other age group, depend on their sleep schedule for everything that they do. The amount of sleep that a student gets is a factor on their health, their safety, and their academic performance (Richmond 2). Schools beginning their day at early times prevents adolescents from sleeping as much as they need (Richmond 2). Since adolescents do not have much time to sleep, their performance is declining. Some adolescents do not participate in sports or have part time jobs, so they are at home in the evening mainly doing homework. Facts have proven that the circadian rhythms which control one’s response to stimuli and so determine one’s sleep pattern (Richmond 3). Circadian rhythms are based on one’s physical, mental, and behavioral changes so one’s sleep pattern definitely will take a toll on the rhythm.
School days begin too early and adolescents do not get enough sleep. Seventy percent of schools start at a earlier time than 8:30a.m. Regardless of the early school day beginning, children go to bed at approximately the same time each night. Since children go to bed at the same time each night, for children to get the healthy amount of sleep each night, schools should have a later start time.