I am sure that most students would agree with me when I say that Monday mornings are the worst. They are the days when students struggle the most to stay awake, wiping the tired from their eyes as they make a futile effort to stay focused and attentive. It is those kind of days that make me ponder, why do we have school so early in the morning? It can’t be good for learning, because everyone knows that with only minimal amounts of sleep everything is more difficult. Sure we have late arrival every Thursday, but is that really enough? I like sleep. It may even be my favorite thing to do to pass time. So why do the schools feel the need to take that away from us students?
Making school start later would actually be healthier for us students, believe it or not. Studies show that the average teenager needs about as much sleep as an infant, and well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I know for a fact that I do not get nearly as much sleep per day as an infant would. Sleep deprivation is now a very common thing in most teenage students, and the proof is right in front of us. Kids at this school are always sleeping during class. Some people even sleep so much during the school day that it leads me to believe that they are nocturnal, and that can’t possibly be good for our students her at West.
Studies also show that getting a full night sleep is just as helpful as studying all night for a big exam the next day. So that is total proof that if school wasn’t so early we would have better test scores. Isn’t that every school’s goal, to have good test scores? It is a win-win situation. We get more desperately needed sleep and the school gets better test scores. It is simply the most logical decision here.
There are no negative outcomes to having school start later. It is healthy for us, and it would even help our grades. I don’t quite know why we have school so early in the morning, and I am pretty sure that no one else does either. So why haven’t they done something about it yet? That is a question that we all want to be answered.