Personal Essays

School Should Start Later

Studies show that for teens to work best they should be getting 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night, but most students get less than 7 hours on a school night (Urton, 1). Many scientists agree that for adolescents, their circadian rhythms are much different than those of most adults.

Schools that have later start times are very beneficial for students to learn better and be more well-rested. Teenagers in school are often fatigued from lack of sleep, and a lot of teens feel if their schools started later they would feel better and would do better in school. 

One source on the matter is an article on the benefits and drawbacks of later start times, who spoke to the parents of teens whose schools started later. One parent said about her son "His grades are better; his concentration has been better. He's just been happier." (Pannoni, 1) 

The mental health of students is one of the most important things for schools to keep in mind when thinking of start times for school. When students feel better mentally, their grades do better and they are able to participate in more extracurricular activities outside of the classroom.

Of course, there are more scientific reasons for schools to start later. Teenagers simply have a different circadian rhythm than adults do. As said by Casey Andersen, "teens don't produce melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone, until later in the night" (1). 

Schools expecting students to be awake and responsive at 7:30 is equivalent to asking an adult to be up at 5:30 in the morning (Urton, 1). And to expect them to be able to learn in those conditions just isn't fair. 

When schools start later, it gives students more time to actually be processing the information they're trying to learn, so students can get more information and improve their grades.

Of course, there are some downsides to schools starting later in the day. First, there are some schools that have adjusted their start times but have seen no improvements in students' amount of tardies during the 1st period. 

Also, some schools' new start times are still very early for teenagers to wake up (Pannoni, 1). However, in the case of many students, any extra sleep gotten is more beneficial than getting a normal amount. 

Furthermore, many students' tardies are not caused by oversleeping through class, but instead not being ready in time to have all of their materials together in the morning.

In conclusion, schools starting later have many benefits for students. High school teens are in desperate need of more sleep and giving them that extra sleep can help their grades, mental health, and physical health. 

Reason for writing: In my freshman Honors English class, we are given a semi-annual task by the school district to write an essay about a given topic. We were given a collection of sources, a question to answer in our essay, and three class periods to finish the essay. The point I took was that schools should start later in the morning to help teenagers get more sleep.