Summary Of The Economic Case For Letting Teenagers Sleep A Little Later

In his article “The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later,” Aaron E. Carroll insists that schools should delay start times to reap the abundance of economic and academic benefits. Carroll states that by starting school later there is more opportunity to achieve the recommended nine to ten hours of sleep every night. However, there’s the argument that delaying school start times would only make students stay up later making no difference at all, which may be true for some individuals. Carroll disproves this argument with a statistic from a study showing that by simply delaying school start times by 25 to 60 minutes sleep times in teens increase by 25 to 77 minutes per week night; which means that students allowed to sleep in still go to bed around the same time equating to more sleep time. Further studies used in the article state that by allowing time for more sleep per night students achieve higher grades, which later equates to a higher salary. Carroll also brings up some of the down sides of a later school start time, such as additional costs per student for transportation, interferences with parent schedules, and the possible necessity to upgrade school infrastructure to support clubs and sports teams that will have to meet later into the night. Overall Carroll urges his audience to at least consider the benefits of allowing students the opportunity to receive more sleep. Aaron E. Carroll is a professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean for

Carroll says, “My oldest child, Jacob, is in 10th. He plays on the junior varsity tennis team, but his life isn’t consumed by too many extracurricular activities. He’s a hard worker, and he spends a fair amount of time each evening doing homework. I think most nights he’s probably asleep by 10 or