Isabel Fattal's Article In The Atlantic

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Isabel Fattal’s article in The Atlantic, “Why Are Parents Afraid of Later School Start Times?” explores the reluctance of schools and parents to change school start times despite research indicating that later starting times may benefit students. A newly published paper attempts to explain the hesitance of parents through behavioral economics. In her article, Fattal demonstrates her knowledge of the subject, offers a logical comparison to explain the concepts behind behavioral economics, and acknowledges its weaknesses to effectively create an objective analysis of the paper. Before discussing the study, Fattal reveals her thorough understanding of the issue. For instance, she asserts that early schedules started in “the latter half of the 20th century, when suburban schools decided to …show more content…

The authors believe that people, including school authorities and parents, resist deviations to the status quo, so changing it could dramatically affect results – as demonstrated by the example of organ donations. Fattal explains that in countries where “[organ] donating is the default option,” the “donation-consent rates” are higher. Similarly, states “could require districts to submit evidence-based justifications of early start times” to increase the number of schools that start later. By revealing a resemblance between organ donors and decisions regarding school schedules, Fattal reinforces a hypothetical, possibly abstract situation – the change of school start times – with a more concrete example. Not only does this potentially elucidate the paper’s ideas, Fattal’s example also supports its plausibility. She proves that the idea of achieving change by altering the status quo is not unfounded; it has worked in the past for organ donation and could work again in the future. Fattal clearly presents the study’s ideas by drawing a parallel to a similar