Should School Have A Later Start? 

Post date: May 14, 2024

By Kayla Riley

Many teens are coming into school every morning deprived of sleep due to staying up late with homework, work, and sports.  Students then have to get up with less than 8 hours of sleep to be at school by 7:40. Grades and health can be raised tremendously with one simple change.  The average school start time normally ranges from 7:45 to 8 o'clock. Back in the day schools would start early due to students having to work and farm in the mornings.  Habits have changed, but school times have not besides for one in California.  They started to try later school times, and they saw an increase in the students’ health, and academic achievements.  A later start to school would benefit the students in many ways because getting more sleep improves their physical health, improves their mental health, and it increases academic achievement.   

Having to be in school by 8 am is causing damage to students' mental health.  Due to being a teenager and hormonal changes, less sleep is causing students to not be able to regulate their emotions which is mentally damaging them.  Early start times are obviously putting students in danger so it needs to change.  A later start time for school would improve students’ mental health stupendously. Due to the increase of mental health issues, school could be a top reason for this, and more sleep could help.

Some people argue that a later start to school is a bad idea due to families and daily routines.  Most families have routines in the mornings that evolve around work and school times, people are worried that those schedules will be messed up due to later school start times. While this statement is somewhat true it is also deceitful. Studies show that sleep deprivation is the biggest cause for unhealthy teens.  Although it may be a little inconvenient an hour later to start school due to schedules, it will assist the students vastly.  The claim that is being held does not hold its title compared to unhealthy teens, and the solution being within an hour difference of school start times.