For years, the school schedule has remained the same all across America. Waking up early every morning, rushing into school, forgetting your lunch for the day, and afternoon release has become the repetition of every day student in America. This schedule was designed for work hours of adults, not students. It was built around the work days of adults and young people are made to fit in this schedule. The school schedule was built around adults not around students who are forced to fit into this system that wasn’t even designed for them.
Students shouldn’t be expected to wake up at 6:00 every morning to get ready for school; it’s not a healthy habit for young teens. According to the American Psychological Association, “Adolescents between the ages of 13 to 18 should sleep 8 to 10 hours per day.” Waking up too early or going to bed late can greatly affect the sleep cycle of students and can affect them long term. It is not a healthy habit to have for these young students. When students are constantly tired they tend to forget or feel unmotivated to focus on a lot of information in the classroom. Sleep is essential for all people but students the most, because without sleep you won’t be able to process information as well leading you to be sleep deprived. According to American Psychological Association “Adolescents who get less sleep than they need are at higher risk for depression, suicide, substance abuse and car crashes.” As a society we need to help improve these issues and more sleep can greatly affect this.
American Academy of Sleep Medicine states research shows that teens need between 8 – 10 hours of sleep per day yet most kids are most likely to get 6 hours at most. Most students do extracurricular activities after school such as sports, band, homework, and other types of clubs. Most students when getting older have jobs and honestly I feel as a student who goes to school and has a job it can be very stressful. Studies have shown in Johns Hopkins Medicine that less sleep can cause an increase in anxiety, depression, and rational thinking. These are serious problems and young students shouldn’t be dealing with all this stress. It will affect them in the long run. If we as a society want to build a future we need to take care of this problem now.
Later start time to school could make a huge difference. Shifting the schools would shift the time I get out but this is a change that needs to be made to improve the lives of these young students. We need a schedule that will support their natural sleep cycle and this would increase their productive skills in school.
It’s long been over-do to force young students to fit into a system they were never meant to live in. A new school schedule isn’t just for the convenience of students, it’s something we need for the health and safety of our next generation.
