Why Schools Should Start Later Research Paper

Words: 565
Pages: 3

With deteriorating grades and health among high schoolers, whether schools should start later in the day remains a question. There is evidence that lack of sleep is unhealthy and harms student life. With the current school schedule, students do not receive the adequate amount of sleep they require. Therefore, high schools should start later in the morning to accommodate students’ sleep health by allowing them to get more sleep and to ensure academic excellence as energetic students focus better. Although getting enough sleep is beneficial, many argue that starting high school later is not the solution because that would not result in kids getting more sleep whatsoever, making them vulnerable to threats. This won’t be a good idea because “parents will still have to drop their …show more content…
These valid arguments should be considered as non-effective. The change would be meaningless and children’s safety shouldn’t be compromised. However, there are also benefits to the correct implementation of later school hours. When students get more sleep, they perform better in school. In a University of Minnesota study, “more than 9,000 students” “who slept eight hours or more each night” were less likely to fall asleep in class or show any signs of depression (Povich 1). This would mean that a healthy amount of sleep is beneficial and essential for well-being, but the current school timings do not fit well with such sleep schedules. In states where schools adopted later start times, “final grades were 4.5 percent higher” than when the schools started earlier (Walker 1). As schools start later, students can receive their much-needed sleep and consequently, their grades improve because they can focus on the task at hand. If schools were to start later, benefits in student health would be drastic and would make the students more keen and efficient in