#2 Wake Up Call (Synthesis)
Starting school later can help many students in the education system. Many doctors say that starting school too early is “preventing students from getting a full night’s sleep” which then in turn will affect students heath and overall academic performance (MacMillan). Teens are “wired to stay up late and sleep in” (MacMillan). Many teens experience “hormonal shifts that make falling asleep earlier difficult — if not impossible” (Morin). More sleep for students would mean more focus from them during the day obviously but in a study done in 2008, “crash rates fell by 16.5% in the two years after a school district shifted its start times an hour later, compared to the two years before” (MacMillan). It was also found that students were less likely to be absent from or late to school when it started later. Growing teens need 8–10 hours of sleep per night to have full attention at school. Many students have admitted to getting 7 hours or less of sleep. However for students that have younger siblings, starting school later could keep them from “providing childcare for them” such as driving them to after school activities or just simply picking them up from school (Morin). A solution to this could be riding the bus or carpooling with another student’s parents or guardians. Starting school later would not only help a student stay more alert at school, it will also push a student to get better grades and not always worry about being tired and forgetting what they learned during the school day.
