High School Start Times: Helping Students Get More Sleep - Essay Sample

Introduction

High school students have difficulties waking up early for school every morning, and no matter how soon they try to sleep, the result will still be the same the next morning. Jeff Varley, in his essay "high school starting time," seeks to convince the readers what high school students go through when they wake up early. This topic is about changing high school starting time to meet the students sleeping needs. He hopes to convince people that starting school late will help the students get more focused and reduce sluggishness. He explains that students should start morning classes later to allow them enough sleep in the morning. He argues that students will still be sleepy in the morning even if they go to bed early because of what he calls "biological clock" that keeps adolescents from sleeping soon and waking up early. Jeff Varley recalls his high school days and how difficult it was to wake up in the morning and how they slept during the morning hours classes, and even if they tried to sleep early, they would still end up staying up late. I agree with the author that morning classes should start later. He has found evidence from researches that the sleeping cycle of people varies. Adolescents tend to sleep late and wake up late due to biological clocks, which means that high school students need to wake up later for them to be more attentive and focused in class.

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Jeff Varley says that biologically people are set up to wake up at different times, depending on their age. He argues that students will still be sleepy in the morning even if they go to bed early because of what he calls "biological clock" that keeps adolescents from sleeping soon and waking up early. He provides evidence through studies that have proved that sleeping patterns for adolescents are notably different from those of adults and young children. Adolescents' biological clocks are set differently from their adult and children counterparts. Melatonin is the hormone that influences sleeping and waking cycles. Studies by Mary Carskadon, who is a professor in psychiatry, have demonstrated the variation of sleeping patterns among adolescents. Jeff reports that studies have shown that "mature adolescents had a later timing of the termination of melatonin secretion" (Carskadon 351). In other words, mature adolescents respond well to waking up later than different ages, biologically. There is a significant impact on making the students wake up early before their bodies can allow them to do so. It is hard for them to learn while their body craves sleep, especially on tough subjects like science and math.

Emily Richmond, the author of 'why schools should start later in the morning,' agrees with a study in 1998 by Mary Carskadon. 10th graders were subjected to an hour earlier morning routine, 7:20 from 8:20 when they were ninth-graders, and sleeping at the same time, around 10:30. They found that the students were still sleepy in the morning, and that's because their biological time had changed, and they needed more sleep in the morning than at night. Jeff gives an example of how they were forced to sleep early but couldn't in response to the biological clock. In my response, the biological clocks mean the high school students are supposed to wake up late and start their morning classes later for them to be attentive. They tend to sleep late and wake up late, and therefore the starting school time should be adjusted to suit their biological time. The biological clock alerts the students on when to sleep and when to wake up, and this might interfere with high school starting time. Varley provides his example on how, during their high school days, their biological clocks forced them to sleep late and felt the need to wake up late the next morning.

Sleep deprivation causes problems for everyone. Among high school students, it is not different. Jeff Varley says that "tardiness, poor grades, depression, automobile accidents, after school on-the-job school accidents and general lethargy have all been identified as the consequences of insufficient sleep among high school students" (Varley 122). It means that there are negative impacts attached to the cases of students not having enough sleep. Those consequences affect all the parties involved, including the students, the school, and the parents. Lack of enough sleep causes terrible moods and, therefore, bad behaviors in schools. Varley continues to state that early starting times have no benefits for the students. Jeff Varley gives his example that they were slow to start the day and would sleep during the morning class. Sometimes ago, in high school, when students were allowed to sleep during morning hours due to varied reasons like technical errors, the behavior changed significantly, and they seemed to be in good moods throughout the day.

Some schools have tried adjusting the school time to later and have seen beneficial results in terms of better grades and better moods by the students. Jeff Varley reports that "some schools have recognized the benefits of later starting times and have implemented a new schedule" (Varley 123). In other words, the schools that have embraced later morning classes have enjoyed several benefits including, active and attentive students, better moods among students, fewer student accidents, alertness in class, fewer problems at home, among others. Everyone, including high school students, tends to study better when they are awake and alert. All these benefits have reflected better grades and therefore benefiting the school's reputation and the students in general. In my response to this, the atmosphere in the schools is better since sleep-deprived students are moody and might lead to fights and chaos in schools.

I would recommend this approach to curb the problem of lower grades in high schools and bad moods among students leading to depression. Jeff Varley gives an example of Edina public school district that pushed starting time from 7:25 to 8:30, and grades and general good behavior improved. In my research, I found that in California, the governor signed a law that pushes back school starting times, making it the first state to do so. In my high school days, the performances were low since the time to wake up was as early as 4 am to prepare for school. General sluggishness was notable among all students.

This topic is about changing high school starting time to meet the students sleeping needs. Jeff Varley's essay has tried to convince the reader that changing the school starting time to later does better than harm to the students and all the other parties involved. Some of the setbacks to start late, as highlighted in Varley's essay, include affecting extra curriculum activities and the buses to ferry the students to school at that time, which would have an estimated cost of about 30 million dollars. Even though there are a few concerns about adjusting the starting time, it is essential to note that education is vital, and it's the critical mission of every school. To avoid the negative impacts of sleep deprivation, I would recommend the adjustment of starting time by school districts to suit the needs of high school students. Better performances and good behavior will be the endgame of switching school starting time to later. It is about time schools put the sleeping needs of the students first to protect them physically and psychologically. And people should consider taking their children to schools that start late to avoid the repercussions associated with early starting times.

Works Cited

Carskadon, Mary A. "When Worlds Collide: Adolescents Need for Sleep versus the Societal Demands." Phi Delta Kappan , 1999, PP. 348-53.

Varley, Jeff. "High - School Starting Time." "Reading Critically, Writing Well." Ed. Rise B. Axelrod.