School Should Start Later

“After only three or four nights without sleep, you can start to hallucinate.” Healthline, Vandergriendt. Every day, students around the world are incredibly sleep-deprived as a result of school.  Still, they are expected to wake up from 5 to 7 am and stay in a building for 7 hours between 8 am to 3 pm. We need to start school later, this simple change can have positive effects on students’ education, and bus schedules, and even prevent the dangers of drowsy driving. Especially since these students are mainly in their adolescence it can be incredibly damaging to their development.

Every day kids will leave their homes at 7 to go to their bus stop. It’s not just having them leave at an incredibly early time, that also includes walking to the bus stop in the cold, worrying about dangerous people, wild animals, or being late to their bus stop. Students already get up so early to get to school, and having them wake up any earlier wouldn’t just be unfair but unreasonable. In paragraph 5 the text states, “Bus and transportation issues are a real problem in an economy where we can’t hire enough bus drivers.” Should Teens Start School Later? Educators Have Strong Feelings, Meisner. Schools around the U.S. are already having a teacher and bus driver shortage. So it would be difficult to find a person who would get up from 5 to 6 am and drive many children to school, in addition, you are completely responsible for them and anything dangerous or bad that happens will most likely be blamed on you.

Most people agree that high school years are some of the most important years of your education. Considering how much high schoolers have to go through when it comes to tests, homework, studying, family affairs, and for many teenagers, work. The average person, much less a teenager, has time for that. So in addition to all of that, they have to get a fair amount of sleep so they can be energized. “Not getting enough sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks” Schools Start Too Early, CDC. It is especially hazardous for teenagers still in their adolescence to get sub-standard amounts of sleep. Schools should consider starting later to ensure students get the necessary rest for their overall health and academic success.

The Morning period of car accidents mainly happens between the times of 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., which in my opinion, makes sense since that is the time most people go to work and it is also a time when a lot of people are tired because it’s the morning and they’ve just woken up.  Now imagine instead of a car, you’re driving a 30-foot-long car that’s difficult to control and is filled with 30+ kids in it. In addition to that, at least in Washington, that is. So bus drivers most likely don’t make much money. So they would most likely have another job at night and people who have night shifts go to bed late and wake up early. The CDC asked, “Who’s at greater risk of drowsy driving and related crashes and deaths?” Drivers who don’t get enough sleep were one of the top answers. Thousands of people die a year because of car accidents, it’s not worth the risk of driving knowing that you may harm someone, especially kids.

Schools should start later as it would greatly benefit students’ mental and physical health. This change would lead to better education and help prevent car accidents. Additionally, it would be more convenient for students who rely on buses to get to school. Although starting school earlier does have its benefits, when you consider the bigger picture, pushing back school start times would have a more positive impact on multiple aspects of a student’s life than starting school earlier or keeping it the same.