Schools and administrations are trying very hard to match school start times with the number of hours of sleep that the students need to function in school. It is challenging to match these hours because of how many people are involved in this dilemma such as parents, other siblings, teachers, coaches, and work places. All of these people influence the decision to start school at a later time. The reason for this later time is for the students to get the correct amount of sleep., Research has stated that later in the day is said to be the highest alert time for the students, and the most dangerous. In the article Background: Later School Start Times it mentions that students tend to get into dangerous activities such as drugs, sex and alcohol between the hours of 2-4pm. The later school start time would mean that schools would run later and into those "dangerous times", but who wouldn't say that the students wouldn't find another time for such activities?
A personal story about myself and high school is related to sleep. I went to a private high school that was about an hour away from home each way. The start time was 7:25am, henceforth I had to leave my house around 6:00am. In the evenings after high school sports, and work I was not getting home until after 7:30pm and needing to eat dinner, along with two to three hours worth of homework left to do for my honors and AP classes. Most would assume that I was tired and not really able to function. However I felt energized and always ready for school, with the little sleep I was getting. From personal experience I do agree that sleep is essential for all ages, however I am not sure that a later start time is correct, maybe teaching children time and stress management might be more efficient and effective.
Not only do teenagers need more sleep, but scientific studies have shown that their circadian rhythm is offset by several hours. A few places have shifted high school to later in the day, and reported scientifically significant improved performance.
ReplyDeleteSo why isn't this adopted? Two reasons:
1. In order for high schools to start late, the younger kids would be getting on the bus in the dark.
2. It would reduce the cheap labor supply for businesses looking to hire minimum-wage teenagers.
I can personally relate to you on this one, but in a slightly different way. When I was in high school I had to balance school, homework, sports, and a job all four years I was there. However, I never felt energized in school and I felt that it affected my learning while I was there. I believe that a later start time for school would be beneficial, but I guess it really depends on the person.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be outliers for every group, but utilitarianism is a good starting point for making scheduling decisions.
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