Do High Schools Start too Early?

        These days, most teens don’t get enough sleep to properly function for the day. Many blame it on staying up and talking to friends, doing homework, playing video games, or partying, but are these excuses the only sole factor for sleep deprivation in teens? Sleep is extremely important to one’s well-being; without sleep, one can experience a reduction in concentration, learning, and listening. Lack of sleep can also lead to skin problems, inappropriate behavior; weaken the immune system, and excessive eating. Teens need about eight to ten hours of sleep every night to perform their very best the next day, however, most high schools in the United States start between 7:00 am to 8:00 am. Do schools need to start at a later time? Or do teens need to be more responsible with their sleep patterns? (Link).

        Research in Wake County, North Carolina has shown an increase in standardized test scores by 2% in math and 1% in reading by extending their school’s start time by one hour; many of the schools in Wake County start at different times by following a three-tier system. Tier one schools open at 7:30, tier two schools open at 8:15, and tier three schools open at 9:15. Numerous schools have pushed their start times to a later time in order to increase their student’s tests scores. Opening schools at a later time will close the learning gap between students (link).

In the United States studies showed that only 17.7 of public high schools in started after 8:30 a.m. Those who are against starting school at a later time say that kids should just go to sleep earlier, but that isn’t necessarily easy to do; during puberty biological rhythms shift, making it difficult for teens to achieve restful sleep early in the evening; these hormonal shifts prevent teens from ‘feeling sleepy’ until later in the night time. If schools wish to improve the quality of the education students receive as well as raise standardized test score, starting school at a later time could be a step the right direction (link).