It’s 7:00 in the morning, and some students are still asleep while the school day is about to start. There are countless arguments saying that school should start later in the morning. Although this idea sounds appealing, it would create more problems than it solves.
The current school schedule already balances school time with extracurricular activities in a way that works well for most families. Starting school later would push everything back, which would cause problems for families. If everything were to get pushed back, then students would come home later in the evening, forcing them to stay up longer in order to do their assignments. They stay up later in the night and wake up later in the morning.
Another important factor is building discipline for the real world. The Population Reference Bureau wrote in their article “A Demographic Profile of U.S. Workers Around the Clock” that three fourths of US workers wake up in between the time span of 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. School isn’t just about academics; it’s about building habits and responsibility. Learning to wake up early is an important life skill. Keeping the current school schedule helps students develop discipline that will help them in the future.
On the other hand, one benefit that could result from starting school later in the morning is that teens can get more sleep, which benefits their health. The American Psychological Association wrote in their article, “Pushing back school start times has added sleep benefits for teachers and parents, too.” The article says that sleep is really important for adolescent health, however most adolescents are not getting enough. Additionally the article also mentions that, Between 2009 and 2021, the percentage of high school students who did not get enough sleep increased from 69% to 77%, according to data from the CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. Getting enough sleep is important for adolescents, but changing school timings does not guarantee anything. If school starts later in the morning teens may just stay up later in the night.
Keeping the current school timings would be most optimal to what we are doing right now. This is because most students already have everything sorted out, such as extracurriculars, their time to rest and when to do homework. Keeping the current school system provides consistency and balance. Instead of trying to change the entire system, students can focus on improving their own habits.
