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Zane Fink

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 3

14 April 2022

School’s Start Stresses

Ever woken up for school and either need a dose of caffeine, or just plainly too tired to

get out of bed? That’s how teenagers that are in high schools feel about their daily lives. Later

school start times should come into effect for High schoolers because it provides better grades,

more sleep, better opportunities for the economically challenged, and less bullying.

Firstly, later school start times provides better grades for the students that are attending

the school. The article written by Jill Barshay mentions, how students grade point average was

raised by 0.1. This shows the significance of later start times by raising the school’s average

GPA. Even though 0.1 is a small increase it could change some of their whole careers after high

school. This also shows support for later school start times since as stated by a teacher in the

article, “After 25 years of my looking at academic performance and start time, there is no

question in my mind that greater sleep, meaning eight hours or more per night for tens, does in

face yield better academic performance”. Even the teachers are agreeing that they school start

time should be pushed back for the betterment of the high school students.

Secondly, when school start times are pushed back it lets the students get more sleep than

they would normally. As the article written by Julie Boergers states, the number of students

getting 8 or more hours of sleep increased to more than double, from 18% to 44%. Those results
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came from just a 29 min delay in school start time which clearly shows than a later school start

time would help more students get the amount of sleep that they need at night. This also shows a

reason to start school later as it would reduce the number of students having to rely on caffeine

during school hours. The article also states, A modest delay in school start times had significant

improvements in sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and mood. This shows a reason for later

school start times as it directly leads into better moods for students attending the school as well

as less drowsiness and falling asleep during classes.

Thirdly, Later school start times helps the economically challenged in school and school

activities. As the article by Jeffery Groen says, the results also showed that students of both sexes

who are economically disadvantaged benefit more from delaying start times. This shows how

later school start times can help high school students by giving the economically challenged kids

a fairer chance to success in high school’s rather than flunking out and not getting to do much

after high school. This also shows reasons for later school start times because it would benefit

the school to have more kids graduating yearly as it would been more people willing to send

their kids to said school. The article also states, economically disadvantages…better

academically. This shows another reason for later school start times as it supports the growth of

knowledge in all of the students no matter what background they come from they will more than

likely fair better if school started later in the day.

Finally, the last reason school should start later is because, it surmounts to less bullying

happening in school. As the article written by Eric Suni says, how do school times affect

performance…greater chance of unhealthy behaviors…why are later times better…fewer

disciplinary issues. This shows a reason for later school start times as it reduces the number of

negative influences on students inside of the schools. This also reasons for later school start
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times as it benefits the school as their school would have a better reputation with a small number

of incidents. The article also states likelihood for behaviors such as bullying and fighting. This

shows another reason for later school times in term of dealing with bullying problems as having

earlier school start times increases the likelihood of it happening in the first place, this also

shows how earlier school start times are bad as it describes what happens when the start times

are earlier leading to certain cases for bullying their peers.

In conclusion, teenagers in high school don’t get enough sleep which directly affects their

school lives in negative ways, and it happens because of the early school start time. Some of the

students and even some of the teachers would like later school times because they have seen the

results and can’t deny them. Later school start times should come into effect for High schoolers

because it provides better grades, more sleep, better opportunities for the economically

challenged, and less bullying.

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Works Cited

Barshay, Jill. "PROOF POINTS: Later school start time gave small boost to grades but big boost

to sleep, new study finds." The Hechinger Report, 26 Apr. 2021,

hechingerreport.org/proof-points-later-school-start-time-gave-small-boost-to-grades-but-

big-boost-to-sleep-new-study-finds/. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.

Boergers, Julie, et al. "Later School Start Time Is Associated with Improved Sleep and Daytime

Functioning in Adolescents." Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, vol.

35, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 11-17, https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000018.

Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.

Groen, Jeffrey A., and Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia. "School Start Times, Academic Achievement,

and Time Use." Monthly Labor Review, Jan. 2020, p. 1E. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A621171714/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=3aa024db. Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.

Suni, Eric. "How Would Later School Start Times Affect Sleep?" Edited by Nilong Vyas. Sleep

Foundation, 11 Mar. 2022, www.sleepfoundation.org/school-and-sleep/later-school-start-

times. Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.