School Timings and Tired Teens - Essay Example

School Timings and Tired Teens Recent studies have been conducted that prove whether starting school earlier is a good idea or not. Scientists have confirmed that earlier class schedules will not help students. It is also a known fact by students that they are already asked to wake up early enough, but waking up even earlier is just ridiculous. Starting school earlier in the day to accommodate an expanded schedule does make sense, but this will yield only negative effectsIf the school day is to start later in the day students grades can be increase dramatically. Its a proven fact that teenagers need between 8 ½ and nine hours of sleep each night. Its also a proven fact that only fifteen percent of teenagers get the sleep that they need. Can you believe that more than twenty-five percent of teenagers sleep less than seven hours a night? Are you one of those teenagers? Well, part of the reason why this is happening is because school starts so early in the morning. If school hours change, teenagers can be much healthier and feel better about them. High school students are becoming more active in extra curricular activities and by the time they get done with their homework it is close to midnight and they are physically and mentally exhausted. Then, they have to wake up the next mourning at close to 6 am. Many high school students sleepwalk through their labs and nod off during lectures due to the early start of the school day. In schools where they have moved back the start time the test scores and grades are rising (Mitru, Georgios, 704). When students are struggling to stay awake during their morning classes and "in the afternoon more students are wide awake and are able to concentrate on their lesson" this shows that if the school day is pushed back later more students can perform better over the whole day. Great American Novelist Edgar Watson Howe once said, "There is only one thing people like that is good for them; a good nights sleep". Some of the advantages of having the school day start later is that the students will get better grades, students will not develop health problems due to lack of sleep, and attendance records and student discipline will improve. To go along with the suffering grades the students are feeling the health concerns of being sleep deprived due to the early start time of the school day. Junior and senior everyday wake up and put people’s lives in danger because they are getting behind the wheel of their car running on very little sleep (Dahl, Ronald E., 354). They have homework they had to stay up to midnight to do giving them a bad daze they have to drive with (Black 33). During the day, if the students are exhausted they have less memory retention and can develop mood swings do to the sleep loss (Covino 44). In a recent study done by University of California at San Diego psychologist Sonia Ancoli-Israel found that the effects of sleep deprivation can cause mild to moderate Alzheimers symptoms and when sleep is "caught up" on these symptoms have lessened or disappeared. All of the health effects can be avoided if the start time of school is changed just enough to where students can get a reasonable amount of sleep. Furthermore, school officials are always complaining that so many of their students are constantly tardy to school. They even have a policy in many schools that states, if you are tardy five times to a certain class you have to stay an hour after school sitting in detention. Out of the many reasons students receive an office detention for being tardy; its usually due to their first period class. They dont get to school on time because they oversleep. With an extra hour, dont you think it will be much easier to get to school on time? According to the Michigan study, attendance for every grade in all of their Minneapolis high schools improved. So if these school officials dont like students being tardy, why dont they consider having school start later? Additionally, with the high standards for getting into college nowadays, it is necessary to get good grades. Studies show that students are more alert after nine oclock. With school starting at 8:05, the first period seems like a waste. Students arent learning to their full potential, and as a result arent getting the grades they are capable of. Over twenty percent of all high school students fall asleep in school at one time or another. Its hard a little to learn while youre sleeping. Also, part of the reason why students dont get enough sleep is because they are up late studying. You cant expect students to come home from school, study, eat dinner, do their homework and then go to bed right away. Teenagers want to watch TV, talk to their friends, and run errands after school. they arent machines; they need fun in their lives. With an extra hour of sleep, the student will be refreshed and ready to learn in hi/her classes. In addition to the health concerns students face with an early start time of school, attendance records and student discipline will improve overall. When students are given more time in the mourning they are more likely to attend and will avoid racking up absences. A study found that at a school that pushed its starting time of its school day back, attendance went from 55% to 67% in a four year span (Viadero, 11). Also if students come to school less sleep deprived, he or she is less likely to cause or get into behavioral mishaps. These students are not going to have as many "bad days" if they get the sleep they need to function properly during the day. If the school days start time is pushed back even as little as one half hour many problems we have in schools today can be avoided. The major problems that we are having with the start time of school are that students are getting bad grades, students are developing health problems, along with attendance and behavior have been poor. Sleep is the only thing that can improve these issues. Another reason starting school earlier is not a good idea is because adolescents have a peak time of performance. Studies show that they have more success in school after a certain time. Schools should use this information to childrens advantage and try to help them. According to the table students earning As usually got more sleep then students getting Bs , Cs or failing. Students can not get the sleep they need because the start time of school is so early. So give the students something that good for them and something they like in a good nights sleep. If the schools starting at an earlier time adolescents just cannot handle that expanding schedule, it means that you are asking too much of them, there bodies are changing and they need more rest. You will not receive the results you wanted. Works Cited Covino, N.A., and F. H. Frankel. (1993). "Hypnosis and Relaxation in the Medically Ill." Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 60.2 44-90. Dahl, Ronald E. “The Consequences of Insufficient Sleep for Adolescents: Links Between Sleep and Emotional Regulation.” Phi Delta Kappan. Vol. 80, Iss. 5 Jan. 1999: 354-359. Edgar Watson Howe, Great American Novelist quote retrieved from; http://learningenglish.canalblog.com/archives/british_english/index.html Mitru, Georgios, Daniel L. Millrood and Jason H. Mateika. “The Impact of Sleep on Learning and Behavior in Adolescents.” Teachers College Record Vol. 104, No. 4 June 2002:704-726. Schools Waking Up to Teens Unique Sleep Needs (2006). Washington Post Company, Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901561_2.html Viadero, D. (2000). Minority gaps smaller in some Pentagon schools.Education Week. Retrieved August 28, 2002, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=29dodd.h19. Read More