Persuasive Essay On School Starting Time

1743 Words7 Pages

School starting times has been an ongoing debate with no end in sight. Due to early mornings, adolescents have been found to sleep less, and with a hefty majority of young people not getting the necessary amount of sleep, there are many damaging side effects. I believe that the school start time should be pushed back because learning capabilities can be compromised, the body does not respond well on limited sleep, and danger on the road is greatly increased. Many studies have been piloted that demonstrate the benefits of delaying school starting times. Scientists and Researchers have itemized that an estimated six to nine hours of sleep are necessary for a plentiful night’s rest, although, this is not the case for a vast majority of Americans (Fisher np). Less than one-third of high school students claim to get over eight hours of sleep per night, let alone nine (Fisher np). Theresa Fisher exclaimed that nearly 70-million people living in the United States undergo sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep and can be acute or …show more content…

Researchers in this study discovered that the average start time of these schools was 8:03am (“Schools Start too Early” np). They also articulated their interpretations on “Inner Clocks” in teenagers (“Schools Start too Early” np). Teenagers bodies don't release melatonin until late at night, around 10pm, so sleeping prior to this time is tougher than an older person who releases melatonin earlier (“Schools Start too Early” np). In this case, for many adolescents, it is difficult to get much sleep before 10:30pm or 11:00pm; and then they are required to turn around and rise as early as 5:30am (“Schools Start too Early” np). A little more than 82% of the schools they surveyed started earlier than 8:30am with Louisiana schools beginning as early as 7:40am (“Schools Start Too Early”