Emma Campbell
Ms. Warrington
English Honors 9
11 October 2015
Actually Awake Now It's almost like we are becoming nocturnal, waking up when it is still pitch black outside. High school’s extremely early start times are causing severe physical, mental, emotional, and health effects in adolescents, and it is affecting every bit of their already-difficult lives. Even though there are so-called ‘obstacles’ to the changing of start times, they can be dealt with in reasonable ways and the greater outcome is much more important.
Life as a teenager is already difficult enough and dealing with horrific health effects such as depression, obesity, and weakness in the immune system makes it only worse. “One study found that only 15% [of adolescents] reported sleeping 8.5 hours on school nights,” according to the National Sleep Foundation, in their article “Teens and Sleep”. Therefore, it is obvious that for the majority 85% of teens, the effects of sleep deprivation are high. …show more content…
Many concerns can be put to ease with reasonable solutions. For example, to take care of the parental transportation concern, bus schedules can be moved back and be more accessible, which leaves a convenient and safe way to get to school. It is understandable that there is only so much daylight in a day and for extra-curriculars can be concerned about pushing back practices/classes. By taking out a student's off block and minimizing excess time, even in the littlest ways, for example in lunch and passing periods, the school day itself can be made shorter but still efficient. The switch to later start times can be made right at the start of a new year, that solves the problem of disruption in the middle of the year towards families, teachers and students. As you can see, the concerns can be ceased in reasonable
Ms. Warrington
English Honors 9
11 October 2015
Actually Awake Now It's almost like we are becoming nocturnal, waking up when it is still pitch black outside. High school’s extremely early start times are causing severe physical, mental, emotional, and health effects in adolescents, and it is affecting every bit of their already-difficult lives. Even though there are so-called ‘obstacles’ to the changing of start times, they can be dealt with in reasonable ways and the greater outcome is much more important.
Life as a teenager is already difficult enough and dealing with horrific health effects such as depression, obesity, and weakness in the immune system makes it only worse. “One study found that only 15% [of adolescents] reported sleeping 8.5 hours on school nights,” according to the National Sleep Foundation, in their article “Teens and Sleep”. Therefore, it is obvious that for the majority 85% of teens, the effects of sleep deprivation are high. …show more content…
Many concerns can be put to ease with reasonable solutions. For example, to take care of the parental transportation concern, bus schedules can be moved back and be more accessible, which leaves a convenient and safe way to get to school. It is understandable that there is only so much daylight in a day and for extra-curriculars can be concerned about pushing back practices/classes. By taking out a student's off block and minimizing excess time, even in the littlest ways, for example in lunch and passing periods, the school day itself can be made shorter but still efficient. The switch to later start times can be made right at the start of a new year, that solves the problem of disruption in the middle of the year towards families, teachers and students. As you can see, the concerns can be ceased in reasonable