High school starts at 7:30 in the morning in most places. High school students typically get up an hour before or earlier in order to get ready for the day ahead. High schools should begin classes an hour later so that students may have more rest so they may be more aware and more likely to learn. If school began an hour later this would let students get more sleep, as they would more than likely continue to go to bed at the same time they do currently. “Research shows that teenagers’ body clocks are set to a schedule that is different from that of younger children or adults. This prevents adolescents from dropping off until 11 p.m.,” (Kalish), with a different sleeping schedule caused by the hormone melatonin, which causes tiredness, it would be beneficial to start school an hour later. If most high school students don’t fall asleep until 11 p.m. and get up at 6:30 a.m., then most students will only get seven and a half hours of sleep, or less if they have to get up earlier because they live further away and have a longer commute. Studies show that after nine hours of sleep adolescents …show more content…
The main benefit of this is that the road conditions would be better; it would be easier to spot black ice, animals, and people walking on or near the road. This would cut down on the amount of car accidents and make it easier and safer for high schools students that drove to get to school, as seen by Fayette County high schools in Kentucky, who pushed their start times to 8:30 and saw a decrease in teen car crashes. (Kalish) Some may argue that because of a later start time students would begin to stay up an extra hour later. This most likely not be the case, as melatonin is released at roughly eleven p.m. causing the students to become tired and want to go to bed, this would cause them to continue to go to bed at the same time they do