Should schools start later?

Erik Adams

Should Schools start having later start times?

Most teenagers do not get the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep. Inadequate sleep can lead to countless negative health consequences that impact student’s learning ability. 

To back up this claim, a study done in 2018, “School start time has serious implications for how students learn and perform in their education. To ask a teen to be up and alert at 7:30 a.m. is like asking an adult to be active and alert at 5:30 a.m.,” said Horacio Iglesia, who co-authored the study. “Adolescents are on one schedule. 

Improved grades are a result of later school starting times!!! For instance, one study by the National Sleep Foundation found that both attendance and graduation rates “significantly improved” in schools that delayed their start times to 8:30 a.m. or later.

I’m not joking when I’m talking about the benefits it’s almost hard to count them all. But here are a few According to the American Psychological Association.

• Better attendance
•  There was a decrease in students getting in trouble.  
• And there is a nice decrease in car crashes 
•  Lastly, there was a Increase in student’s GPA

All of my evidence shows that later school start times have all the benefits that students need. We need later start times. So come on PCCS, and do what’s right for your students!