So, I decided that I would do something similar (literally the same, actually) to a blog that Rlad116 made, as in a copy and paste of an essay I wrote a while ago. So yeah, all credit goes to him.

I find it strange that my teacher gave me an 87 on it, because I think it's quite mediocre. I didn't really put much thought into it and I turned it in at like 3am, so maybe she cut me some slack.

I also changed the topic like 10000000000000 times, so I wrote it in like 5 hours.

But anyways, the essay is about how schools should start their times later. My school starts at 7:45am every day and 8:15am on Wednesday. Personally, I think that is way too early for my internal clock. So I decided to write about that.

Hope you enjoy!

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Should Schools Start Later?

“Around 80% of schools start before 8a.m., which means many students windup sleep deprived,” an article by Education Degree states. Many students have suffered from these early start times, and an end should be brought to it. Schools should start later because there are many benefits, such as better academic performance, the increasing of attendance and graduation rates, and less likelihood of students experiencing depression.

One reason schools should push their start times is because students perform better academically when they receive a full night’s sleep. For instance, in a study conducted by schools in Seattle, start times were moved from 7:50am to 8:45am, and students used this extra time to sleep in. The results consisted of grades about 4.5 percent higher than usual (Neighmond). This proves that adequate sleep resulting from a later start time is an important contributing factor to receiving better grades. A poll from the National Sleep Foundation discovered that at least 60 percent of teens 18 and under complained of drowsiness during the school day and 15 percent reported falling asleep during school due to the early start times. This is crucial because students cannot receive or retain knowledge if they are not truly awake, making it difficult to complete work . Grades are not the only academic achievement that improved when times were pushed back- standardized test scores did as well, according to David Figlio. He explains that math scores improved by eight percent when teens obtained an extra hour of sleep, while they improved only by one percent before puberty. This proves that teens, in fact, do require more sleep and a later start to their day to perform better academically. This is important for teens who plan to take standardized tests in order to make it into college. But, others argue the only reason teens do not perform well academically is simply because they pay more attention to their technology, making them stay up longer. While this may be a valid point, this is not the reason teens stay up late. It is solely because adolescents’ internal clocks are set for bed at later times, thus causing students to stay up later, which hinders their ability to do as well as possible in school.

Another contributing reason to pushing back school start times is it will lower the amount of absences and increase graduation rates. For example, in a study “McKeever and Clark looked at 29 high schools across seven states, comparing attendance and graduation rates before and after the schools implemented a delayed starting time. The average graduation rate jumped from 79% to 88%... attendance rate went from 90% to 94%, (Malatesta).” This is important because more students feel motivated to show up at school and work to graduation instead of dropping out of high school if start times are pushed back. In addition to McKeever’s findings, her colleague, Linda Clark, found evidence that graduation and attendance rates went up when school start times were increased to at least 8:30a.m. (Malatesta). It is important that this is recognized because schools should start no earlier than eight o’ clock a.m.- otherwise teens will want to sleep in instead of waking. In addition to this, McKeever says there is a higher rate of success in the future for students who have way less of a hard time graduating. Obviously, the answer is simple and easy; just pushing time back will help teens through their journey in graduating so they do not fail classes. Still, others continue to believe that the reason teens do not attend school is because they skip and don’t want to put in effort. This somewhat makes sense, however it is still not the case. It is very difficult to maintain graduation and attendance when you do not receive enough sleep, which is why later start times should be implemented everywhere.

A final reason it is important that school start times be later is that it benefits the decrease in depression and insomnia rates. In the 2006 National Sleep Foundation poll, teens that got nine or more hours of sleep felt a more positive mood than other students (Fuligini et. al). This contributes to the argument that sleep is important when it comes to mental health, thus why it is important to start schools later. The mental health of teens is principal and sleep is a part of that. In the same poll, 73% of the teens claiming they were unsatisfied with their life felt they were not sleeping enough and 59% reported tiredness during the day (Fuligini et. al). It is significant that these struggles are recognized as schools starting too early, causing teens not to get enough sleep. It is proven that teens do not produce the hormone that is related to sleep cycles until about eleven o’ clock, and that does not leave enough time for the proper amount of sleep (Malatesta). This is necessary to understand because the proper amount of sleep is needed for teens to function well and experience an overall improved mood. However, some may argue that teens do not experience depression at all from early start times. This is not true because there is an obvious increase in stress throughout the population of adolescents, which can often lead to depression, which makes it valid for a later start.

Overall, it is necessary that schools start later because of the importance of students performing well academically, ensuring higher rates of attendance and graduation, and contributing to the decrease of depression. People should be informed that start times should not have such an effect on young scholars of today. Later school start times should, without a doubt, be enforced.

Works Cited

Figilo, David. "Start high school later for better academic outcomes." Brookings, www.brookings.edu/research/start-high-school-later-for-better-academic-outcomes/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.

Fuligini, Andrew. "The Impact of School Start Times on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance." School Start Time,
---. "The Impact of School Start Times on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance." School Start Time, schoolstarttime.org/early-school-start-times/depression-anxiety-fatigue/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.

"Good Reasons Why School Should Start Later." Education Degree, www.educationdegree.com/articles/why-start-school-later/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2019.

Malatesta, Elizabeth. "Let Them Sleep? Later School Start Times Improve Graduation and Attendance Rates." neaToday, 13 Apr. 2017, neatoday.org/2017/04/13/later-school-start-times/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.

---. "Let Them Sleep? Later School Start Times Improve Graduation and Attendance Rates." neaToday, 13 Apr. 2017, neatoday.org/2017/04/13/later-school-start-times/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.

Neighmond, Patti. "Sleepless No More In Seattle — Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens." NPR, 12 Dec. 2018, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/12/12/676118782/sleepless-no-more-in-seattle-later-school-start-time-pays-off-for-teens. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.

"School Start Time and Sleep." National Sleep Foundation, www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/school-start-time-and-sleep. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.