The Importance Of Starting Time In High School

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Every day, millions of teenagers are being put in danger by their own daily lives, and lack of sleep is the killer. Sleep may not seem like that big of a deal, but the lives of teens everywhere are affected by it. What can change this? (Rhetorical Question) Schools could have later starting times to help teens receive more sleep. The amount of sleep a teenager gets can improve or destroy their life. Teens are especially affected by this due to an increase in hormones during puberty, which makes them not feel drowsy until 11 pm (Hoffman 2). Even worse, the daily schedules of teens do not allow for enough sleep. After school activities, homework, jobs, social activities, and family all affect how much sleep a teen receives each night (“Backgrounder: Later School Start Times” 1). A study of sleep deprivation describes teens experiencing jet lag on a daily basis (Cline 1). However, only 17.7% of the United States’ public middle and high school meet the 9 am guideline set by psychologists (Lewis 1). Consequently, schools should start later in the day for high school students to overall improve their lives. The opposing side states that changing the school start time disrupts parents, students, younger siblings, and …show more content…
Even though people believe changing the school start time could be disruptive to the school community, schools can adjust in multiple ways and the effect on students could make a big difference in their lives. Changing the school start time could improve student’s test scores, make teenagers’ lives less dangerous, and boost teenagers’ mental health. Therefore, to improve teenagers’ lives dramatically, schools need to change their start times to the 9 am guideline recommended by psychologists. If the school starting time was later, teens would have improved safety, improved health, improved grades, and improved lives overall (SP 3a,

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