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Have you ever woken up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready for school? Wouldn’t it be easier if school started later? According to the American Psychological Association, “Adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 should sleep 8 to 10 hours per day… In 2021, nearly 70% of 9th graders, and 83.5% of 12th graders, failed to get enough sleep.” Most kids in high school rarely get enough sleep to suffice what is needed to be a functional human being.
Changing the start time for high school would also require changing the start time for elementary school. They would have to switch. According to the National Education Association, “‘We found earlier start times for elementary schoolers do not have the same negative effects as they do for middle and high schoolers,’ said study co-author Sarah Crittenden Fuller, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ‘Moving elementary schools to earlier start times is unlikely to harm the educational outcomes of these younger students.’"
A change that would be very beneficial to all students is that the high school day starts at 8:30. Not only would it allow students to sleep more but, it would allow students to have more time in the mornings to prepare for the day. Currently, Aurora High School’s school day starts at 7:40. A lot of students tend to be late to school because they wake up late even though they may wake up at 7.
Even though this would do great things for high school students, some drawbacks could also affect how well students can get to school every day. A change like this would cause elementary school parents to have to get their kids up earlier than they do now to start getting them to school earlier. Also, according to the National Education Association, “Many educators, district leaders, and parents believe the shift will present significant operational and logistical challenges, complicate the scheduling of after-school extra-curricular activities, and disrupt the schedules of working parents.” Not only would this cause parents problems, but also the teachers.
All students require more than 8 hours of sleep to be fully rested; however, most students in younger grades go to bed earlier. High school students have many extracurricular activities, homework, and jobs after school, on top of participating in sports.
Therefore, having the start of the school day pushed back would have a great positive impact on students.
Written by Megan Rentfrow
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