Should School Be Paid Later School Start Times?

S School should start at a later time because studies show that teenagers require sleep at different times than children and adults. (Kalish) Many advantages come along with delayed starting times in schools. Starting school later in the morning could potentially cause higher test scores, attendance rates, and lower the number of behavioral issues. It is also proven that when schools delay their start times, their dropout rates decrease significantly. However, there are also many disadvantages to delaying school starting times such as after school activities, church, parents’ jobs, etc. Teens produce the sleep inducing hormone called melatonin just like the rest of the humans roaming the earth. However, teens produce melatonin at different times as compared to children and adults. Typically, teens produce melatonin from eleven o’clock at night to eight o’clock in the morning. (Kalish) Therefore, if school starts at seven o’clock in the morning, teens are less focused; this could cause many accidents on the way to school in the morning. Students are still foggy, tired, and so unfocused that they are not willing to pay attention to anything, much less school work to …show more content…
It would help students due to the fact they require sleep at different times as compared to younger children and adults. It would allow high school students to focus more because their bodies will not be producing the sleep inducing chemical, melatonin. Delaying school start times could help the school system by raising test scores and attendance rates. Also, by making this small change in time, schools’ behavior problems and dropout rates could potentially decrease. However, delaying school start times do come with some disadvantages such as cost and the change in school start times for elementary schools. School start times should be delayed because resting is just as important as working