Sunday, October 16, 2016

Push Back High School Start Times

There has been a bit of drama lately on pushing back the start time of High Schoolers.  There is to believe by doing this that the students would be more alert and more attentive to school. Teenagers rather stay up late and wake up later in the morning. With this being said most students are sleep deprived because of how late we actually fall asleep.

“Over time, sleep deprivation leads to serious consequences for academic achievement, social behavior, and the health and safety of our nation’s youth,” the Congresswoman added.” This meaning the less sleep teenagers get, the harder it is for them to focus in school and after school activities.

This does not only effect very serious academic students but athletes as well. Athletes are going to classes and then have late practice after a long 6-hour day of school. Think of how tired athletes must be after being taught for 6 hours straight and having a 2-hour practice and then to come home and do homework. “Sleep-deprived athletes are more likely “to make a risky decision that could lead to injuries...” ...”

I personally would agree to pushing back the time for high school. I was an athlete in high school and I suffered from being sleep deprived. I was constantly running around for academics and making sure I was legible to play. I was also very busy with playing sports in high school that I did not have much time for a social life. I had late nights almost every night because I was stuck doing homework and I had a late practice because school was for so long that I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Sleep is very important and if that means pushing school back just enough so teenagers and athletes get the sleep they need to benefit them in the long run, then it should happen. It may effect having a longer school day but at least most students would be ready to learn and not falling asleep in school.

3 comments:

  1. I do agree. However, what happens to extra-curricular activities when they start later? For the most part, parents would expect their kids to be done with sports, drama, music lessons..whatever it is and home for dinner time. Pushing back school times, pushes back everything else. The kids would sleep later in the morning, but their days would inevitably be longer. There has to be a sacrifice somewhere, the question is where?

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    1. Where indeed. Extra-curricular activities are... extra. As in, "not as important".

      There are many institutional practices which lock high school students into a time period that does not match their circadian rhythm. A distaste for letting 5 year olds catch the bus in the dark and a desire to fudge the unemployment figures are among the most unexpected ones.

      I'll also comment (based on watching six kids graduate from high school) that most homework is useless busywork. Unfortunately, because of rubric changes a student can no longer (as I did in the late 1970s) refuse to do homework while getting A's on papers and tests without flunking the class.

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  2. I completely agree that High School start times should be pushed back. Waking myself up and dragging myself out of bed in the morning was like pulling teeth. I slept in more than I should have, racking up some late passes. But I found that when this happened I actually *gasp* stayed awake, was more alert, performed better in my classes and I actually enjoyed the material I was learning all because I had more energy and was not just thinking about going to sleep that night.
    But pushing back high school start times also pushes everything else back. There already isn't enough time in the day for a school day, clubs and extra-curriculars, sports, socialization, and homework and most importantly sleep. So I think a reasonable time for high school to start would be to push it back one hour. It will still be early, but really isn't waking up at 5:30-6 AM every day and starting classes at 7:30 in the morning simply ridiculous?

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