The Case for Later School Start Times: A Student’s Perspective
By: Ali Mugan, EC Oakland Cohort 5 Fellow
Schools starting at 8 AM pose a problem for students. Classrooms filled with tired students affect our learning.
With school starting early, it’s hard for us students to get enough sleep and be expected to perform at our best. It’s challenging to wake up before school starts and immediately dive into deep thinking about school, assignments, and grades.
As a freshman who goes to school in Oakland, I struggle with getting to bed early. I have to wake up at 7 AM to get ready for school and be in my seat by 8:30 AM. Once I’m done with school, I go home, get ready for wrestling practice, attend practice for two hours, and then come back home. By the time I’m done with all that, it’s already about 9 PM. I haven’t showered yet, and I haven’t done my chores or my homework, but I’m expected to be at that desk the next morning at 8:30 AM, energized and ready to work. Instead, I’m exhausted, sore, and unmotivated.
By delaying the start of school by one hour and having school start at 9 AM, students will have more energy to perform at their very best. School performance and brain health are connected to sleep. The better the quality of sleep, the better one performs in school. According to a study by the National Library of Medicine, sleep is needed to regenerate parts of the brain so that it can continue to function normally. Lack of sleep, or insufficient sleep, can cause some neurons in the brain to malfunction. If the neurons cannot function properly, it affects the person’s behavior and has an impact on their performance.
This not only applies to students but to teachers as well, which brings me to my next point. Teachers hold the same responsibilities as students, if not more. They have our education, grades, and bills to pay. So, if teachers aren’t getting good quality sleep, then students will receive poor quality lessons. (National Library of Medicine)
Some might say to try to get to bed at an earlier time, which isn’t always possible because of activities students must complete after school. Also, even if we really wanted to go to bed earlier, it’s easier said than done. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenagers need 8–10 hours of sleep. However, almost 60% of middle schoolers and more than 70% of high schoolers don’t get this much sleep on school nights. (U.S.News)
In conclusion, all students (including elementary, middle, and high school) need quality sleep to increase school performance. The only way that we students can try to solve this is by getting to bed early, but that can be difficult due to after-school activities and the delay of melatonin production. The only solution we have now is for the OUSD to change the start times of school to 9:30 AM instead of 8:30 AM. So, will the district give us what we need, or will we keep napping in class because students aren’t getting enough rest?
