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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Why Schools Should Start Later

    Why Schools Should Start Later

    School starts no later than 8:30 for high schools. This does not give the brain a lot of time to wake up especially in teens. Imagine not going to bed until 1 o’clock and having to wake up at 7, and having to take a big exam in the morning and being expected to pass. If you wouldn’t want to do it, why make kids do it?

    Now a days there are so many extra circulars that kids are supposed to participate in between sports, clubs, volunteering, etc there is just not enough time to do it all. Kids will not get home until the latest 10 p.m. and still have tons of homework and still have to eat and do their night routine. This causes very little sleep.

    Maddy McFarlin says, “I have to wake up at 4 a.m sometimes to finish my homework because I had so much going on the night before.”

    Teens can not begin to fall asleep until 10:45 p.m. We can not help it that is just the biology of our brain. If it is recommended that we get 8-10 hours then we should not be waking up earlier than 7. That is only a half hour before some schools start. Kyla Wahlstrom said in “Why teen brains need a later school start time”

    Throughout the day many kids fall asleep during their class and the teacher will shout at them to wake up. If the child falls asleep they do not learn anything which means there is no point in going to class. If the time for school started later than this would allow for all children to wake up later, have energy, and be ready to pay attention in class and not be dozing off.

    It is simple, lack of sleep causes stress; a lot of homework causes stress. Having a lot of homework and lack of sleep causes one stressed out teen who is more likely to not give their best work.

    If teachers, parents and whoever else always expects us to do our best than setting school to start later would help achieve that. Teens are stressed enough with trying to pass classes and get ready for college, so spare them some time.

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