Jordan Boehning Ms.

Gardner English 10, Period 1 29 Oct 2013 The Tyranny of the School Start Time

Boehning 1

When the loud beeping of your morning alarm wakes you up for school, youre probably thinking, Im so happy that its finally Monday!-Right? Most likely, you are not. The mornings can be the most horrible part of the school day, and a lack of sleep can have a large negative impact on students ability to learn while at school. Thats why all schools should be starting later in the day, so that the students can academically perform at the best of their ability. As a student, I know how hard it is to concentrate at school after I had gotten up early in the morning. The awful awakening for school is a major issue for most teens. Fellow classmates, as most of you know, the tyranny of the school start time has been an issue many for years now. Ask yourself, how hard was it to get out of bed this morning? Am I still tired? If this deprivation of sleep continues, you might find yourselves falling asleep in class, or your grades beginning to drop. In one of Shakespeares plays, Macbeth, he writes, You lack the season of all natures, sleep (Macbeth 3.4.167). The lack of sleep can easily be detected in students during the school week. Thats why I want to tell you how to help make this time change happen in our schools all around the nation. It has been proven that an earlier start negatively affects teens. University of Colorado researchers found that 82 percent of teens that had gotten seven or less hours of sleep at night said that they had woken up extremely tired, and more than half of them had trouble concentrating throughout the day (Epstein, Lawrence, and Mardon). A study by Macleans news magazine, using 3,000 children aged eleven to seventeen, found that students getting less than six hours of sleep a night were twice as likely to receive poor grades (Maclean's 7).

Boehning 2 Despite these shocking statistics, students could drastically increase their academic performance by their schools beginning at a later time. A high school principal in the Minneapolis Public School District said that with a school time change to about 30 minutes later, the results showed improved grades, increased attendance, fewer drop outs, and decreased driving accidents (Rosenberg, Russell and Monaco). Eight oclock in the morning is about the time that teens bodies wake up, and students also need time to get ready before school, some needing longer than others. Therefore, they wake up about an hour or two earlier than what is healthy for them. You may think that a later school time encourages staying up late; however, homework and projects assigned by teachers cause students to stay up at night for several hours, either way. A teen that stays awake past twelve in the morning from doing homework will most likely come to school with bags under their eyes, and find it difficult to focus during class. Also, going to bed at a later time wouldnt make a significant difference, because teens bodies fall asleep at a later time in the night than adults bodies do. You may think that an earlier start prepares teens for work situations; however, this is false, because when students are out of school and working they will be adults. Because adults bodies are built differently, they tend to go to bed early and wake up early. For these reasons, a later school time would benefit our nations students. Even you can help make this change happen. Talk to the school administrators or district about a later school time. Lets agree to disagree with the start time of our own school. If we change the early morning policies, the spark would start a chain reaction in other schools all over California. Getting a good amount of sleep is crucial for all teens so that they can have better focus in class. It would not only cause a large improvement on test scores, but also in the students attitudes about school. We should live in a country where we can wake up to learn, not learn to wake up.

Boehning 3 So lets take action. Join me in creating a new time to start the school day. So that the next time the alarm wakes you up for school, you will be well rested and ready to learn.

Works Cited Rosenberg, Russell, and Michael Monaco. "Should High School Students Have a Later Start to the School Day?." American Teacher. Nov/Dec 2012: 3. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 25 Nov 2012. "Why you should let your teenager sleep in." Maclean's 7 Feb. 2011: 4+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. Epstein, Lawrence, and Steven Mardon. "Homeroom Zombies." Newsweek 17 Sept. 2007: 64. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.