All young teens in America go to school roughly around the times of 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning, waking up an extra hour just to get ready for the day because your appearance really matters to most people. Most American students get around 7.4 hours of sleep according to UF Health, this is much lower than the average sleep a student should get according to the National Sleep Foundation a study was done that showed only 15% of students sleep at least 8.5 hours of sleep most of the time while the average sleep is 7.4 hours of sleep per night. The lack of sleep is throwing kids off their routine schedule and affecting them in school according to the National Sleep Foundation, otherwise known as the NSF. This lack of sleep can affect the teens mental and physical performances in the classroom. This can have drastic consequences for the future of these young Americans. The physiological effects of sleep deprivation by Ruthann Richter this increase the likelihood of teens will suffer myriad negative consequences, including the inability to concentrate, poor grades, drowsy driving incidents, anxiety, depression and even thoughts or suicidal attempts If the schools really care about the health and safety of young teens they will start school later.
Many Health Organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics say schools should start later than 8:30 a.m. to keep the natural sleep cycle for teens. A lot of the time when students are forced to wake up and get ready for the day they will still feel tired and exhausted waking up to an alarm most kids hit snooze on just to get a couple of extra minutes of sleep. Sleep is very important for everyone. Most of these young high schools play sports or have jobs after school. These activities are just as important to them as is sleep. Starting school later would have a big impact on the students’ mornings, improving sleep and regular routines done in the morning such as eating breakfast or even reviewing homework before turning it in all of these things could be possible if students could go to school later in the day instead of getting up earlier than they need to be.
The impact that sleep has on teens is greatly affected when most students have to take the bus to school, waking up even earlier because of the routine the bus has. The fact that students already have to wake up early is a toll on their mental state. According to my step sister Malania Camilleri her school in Niceville starts around 7 a.m. The school of Niceville is located in Florida near the panhandle. She rides the bus on most days but sometimes gets rides from my parents or friends. She has to get to the bus by 6 and she wakes up around the hours of 4:35 a.m. or 5 a.m. depending on what she needs to do in the morning. This is an insane time to wake up. My sister is only 14 years old and it’s the start of her freshman year and she gets an average of 6 or 7 hours of sleep which is below the average sleep time for high school students due to homework. This is greatly affecting not only my sister but many more people. This is an issue that needs to be resolved if we want students to perform well in the classroom and out the classroom.
Critics argue that pushing the school time later will cause a number of consequences that can’t be prevented. An article called Later School Starts Time More Popular, But What Are the Drawbacks states that In California Teachers argue that changing the school time to alter would alter the flexibility of parents getting out of work making it harder for kids to get picked up or find rides home due to the time change. This is a big concern for most parents and students but this can be resolved with having buses come later to drop kids off or even finding rides from other classmates. This would in turn teach students to manage their time wisely and make choices because they are becoming young adults and should communicate better with people and their choices.
High school students spend 7 hours a day at school not including the other work they do such as homework, sports, and other clubs. Without sleep these things after school become more and more challenging for the average high school student. The National for Education Statistics (NCES) states the average GPA for high school students is a 3.0 which is much lower than it needs to be. In turn better sleep will lead to better grades or a higher GPA rate.
Changing the school times would be a huge inconvenience for most but the reward outweighs the risk that kids could have better health and a brighter future. Students would come to school prepared for what is coming and teachers would have it easier with a couple extra hours of sleep. It is time for a change in the school industry and focus on the future of these students’ health.
