What time is the right time?

Sometimes getting a sleepy teenager up early in the morning is like waking a hibernating bear from its long winter’s nap. (Simile) They both growl and snarl and look as if they want to just crawl back into their bed to sleep. Putting parents through this every morning doesn’t seem like a great idea, it is an unfair way to start someone’s day with all the stress so early in the morning.  Maybe it would be a better idea if schools were to begin later for the sake of the parents and the students. It would make life in the lair for all members of the family happier and more peaceful. Why aren’t schools changing their opening time? If it has been proven a success for students as well as schools, shouldn’t all institutions take the next step and delay the start time of school?

            What is the best possible amount of hours of sleep a teenager needs in order to function properly in school? Researchers have shown that teenagers actually need 9.5 hours of sleep per night. They need one to two hours more than their younger nine and ten year old siblings. However, they are the ones who get the least amount of sleep because they stay up so late. (Irony) Sleep must also be consistent in order for it to be beneficial. There is no wonder why teenagers these days are having emotional and health problems due to lack of sleep. (Sarcasm) When a teenager is sleep deprived it can turn them into a grouchy, angry, bear. (Personification) They can also suffer from depression, low blood pressure, difficulty with remembering or concentrating, irritability, and falling asleep during the day. Another complication of lack of sleep, particularly in teenagers is their risk of being involved in a car accident while falling asleep at the wheel. Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown University, describes sleep deprived teenagers as existing in a: kind of gray cloud.” (Metaphor)  Teenagers would obviously be able to concentrate better if they had the proper amount of sleep. It seems obvious to anyone who has ever tried to have a serious conversation with a teenager before 9AM that a later school starting time is a good idea.  

            Schools that have altered their opening times have found it successful because the students are less likely to transfer and their attendance levels increased. Researchers from Minnesota have found that students and teachers both preferred a later start time. Many schools changed high school opening times from 7:15 to 8:40, and, even this addition of a little more than an hour seems to make a difference. (Rhetorical shift) Students in schools with later start times were found to be more likely to be on time for school and miss less school days. They were also less likely transfer to another school because they are unsuccessful or unhappy. It would seem considering all these benefits that high schools would be open to changing their start time to one that is more in line with the body clock of a teenager.

            Its not only school statistics that have risen, students have also been seeing positive effects from the time change. Students saw their grades rise because they were less tired, able to stay awake during the class. Kids said they weren’t late to class and by no means were their sports or working careers negitively impacted. Although sports coaches felt that this decision would bring the end of sports, it didn’t, it only brought out the more dedicated players and allowed them to play better than before because they were so well rested. As for working schedules, this didn’t interfere, it only helped because it gave the students more structure in a day, rather than just hanging out and getting involved in unnecessary situations. Many teachers and at students observe the difference in environment in the schools as well as home. Everyone was happier, there are much less discipline issues, and in general the atmosphere became a comfortable place.  

            Schools, students and families are all benefiting from this later opening time. Since the 1900’s it has been a known fact that teenage sleep was very different from an adult or child’s sleep cycle. It was researchers who used to say that grogginess in the morning is the teenager’s fault, it was up to them to develop time management and learn to balance their priorities. Although some researchers felt this way, contemporary researchers say this is not the case, “all the time in the world will not overcome teen biology.” Teenage sleep clocks are set so they fall asleep late and wake later. Eight in the morning for a teenager is like four in the morning for an adult. Would any business person ask someone to make critical decisions at four in the morning?  No, so why would deprive younger generations from the sleep that is needed. If school are ever going to take the initiative to do this, now is this time, as students and teachers we all must take a step to do what is right.