Should School Start Later?

Eniola Aramide

Studies have shown that within an hour of going to bed, fifty percent of teens watch TV, fifty-five percent of teens use a computer, and fifty-six percent of teens text or use a cell phone. Therefore, school start times aren’t the main reason teens nowadays are always so exhausted in school. According to the articles “Should School Start Later?” by Justin O’Neil, “Teachers Overwhelmingly Oppose Later High School Start Time In Montgomery” by Julie Zauzmer and Dana Hedgpeth, and “Hey You, Wake Up!” by Matthew Huston, schools across the country are considering pushing school start times later in the day so kids can sleep in. In fact, some experts claim that just twenty minutes would make a difference in performance in school. …show more content…
O’Neil states, “Later start times would mean some districts may have to invest in additional buses and drivers, which can be expensive” (21). This explains that starting school later will add additional funds to the school’s budget, which isn’t very necessary. Also, some schools may not be able to afford the additional funds. The extra bus drivers and buses may have to be traded off with other positive qualities of the school, like clubs and healthier meals. Furthermore, Zauzmer and Hedgpeth write, “The school board then asked the school administrator to come up with low-cost options...all of those are said to cost less than $10 million a year” (❡6). This quote also shows how unnecessary funds would be spent on starting school later, instead of things that could be a bit more beneficial to the students and the school as a whole, like safer labs or additional clubs and classes. Overall, leaving school start times the way they’ve been can allow the school to invest in other …show more content…
Certainly, it could be said that students learn better when well rested; while this is a strong point, it fails to account for the fact that starting school later would cause teens to sleep later, thus causing them to feel tired in the morning anyway. Justin O’Neil states, “Schools that have pushed school start times to 8 a.m. or later have seen promising results: Students are more alert and there are fewer incidents of tardiness” (O’Neil 20). Students may be more alert for a little while, but over time their circadian rhythm (the body’s natural clock) would shift and be interrupted (O’Neil 11). This would defeat the purpose of starting school later in the first place. Also, while some might argue that many kids aren’t getting enough sleep, they forget that teens themselves do things that will prevent them from sleeping on time. Likewise, Justin O’Neil wrote, “Across America, nearly 70 percent of kids are not getting enough sleep, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” (20). The things teens do that prevent them from sleeping when they’re supposed to include using electronic devices within an hour of going to bed, having calls, texts, or emails in the middle of the night, eating caffeinated foods, and using the bed for the wrong purposes. If all of these things keep teens awake at night, then somnolence in

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Should Schools Start Later?

Should Schools Start Later