By Abby McGinn and Mirna Gouhar

Recently, students and parents of Westborough Public School received a survey asking if they thought school should start 20 minutes later. This idea has been debated for a while, but is now being brought up again. In our opinion, school should start 20 minutes later, because it would benefit students in a number of ways.

If school started 20 minutes later, this would allow students more time to sleep. Sleep is the main focus around pushing back school because it affects peoples’ everyday lives, from their behavior, to their health–this is especially true for high school students, whose brains are still developing. One of the most important health issues is that most teenagers do not get the amount of sleep they need to continue their next day. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens need approximately eight to ten hours of sleep per night. The problem is that only 15% of teens in the United States were actually able to get 8 ½ hours of sleep. Many factors cause this; including having a surplus amount of homework, along with sports, jobs, etc. Many students are not able to get to bed until 11:30 or 12:30, and sometimes even later. On top of that, they are forced to wake up at 6:00 am to get ready for school. This leaves them with only six to seven hours, or less, of sleep per night.

Lack of sleep can cause many problems, including students performance in school. School starting early is one of the causes for lack of hours slept. People stay up late and wake up early in order to finish homework and cram for tests.  Staying up late, however, may not be in the student’s best interest when it comes to their grades–not getting enough sleep has been known to affect one’s listening, ability to concentrate, and problem solving skills. It is harder to remember important information such as what you need to know for tests. This could cause grades to suffer.

There is also the fact that lack of sleep can lead to aggressiveness. Teenagers are stereotypically very moody, which is partially contributed from their lack of sleep. The stress teens have today lead to less sleep, and if students came to school at 7:50 instead of 7:30 they will have a few more minutes to sleep and reset their brains to prepare for the day.

The problem doesn’t necessarily have to do with how late you stay up, because that can’t always be controlled. With all of the stress that high school students have, it is a new norm to have to stay up late to do homework. Students today have so many activities and jobs, that leads into getting home late while still having homework. The National Sleep Foundation also states that biological sleep patterns also tend to lean later for sleeping and waking up when it comes to teens, saying it is “natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11 p.m.”  Most teenagers stay up because they have work to do or simply because they cannot fall asleep.

So why do people disagree with pushing school back 20 minutes? There are a couple of reasons: the first is that students claim that 20 minutes would not make a difference sleep wise. Why would an extra 20 minutes of sleep improve our performance or behavior? But when actually looking at the time, it can make a difference. When asked in classes what time students get up to get ready, the majority of students say 6 to 6:30 a.m. This is an hour, to an hour and a half of time to get ready before school, which starts at 7:30 a.m. If school started at 7:50 a.m., students would would be able to wake up around 6:45 to 7 a.m. in order to have about an hour to get ready. For those who wake up at 6, that adds about 45-60 minutes of extra sleep. It also leaves time to sleep in a little more, and wake up and not rush to get to school.

Another problem that was brought up is sports games and practices. This can be solved too. Most sports practices do not start until around 2:30. If school was pushed back 20 minutes, students would be let out at 2:17 instead of 1:57. This still gives students time to get ready for practices. For sports games on the other hand, even though other schools would not be on the same schedule as WHS, games can be moved back by 20 minutes, or athletes could get an excuse to leave a few minutes earlier in order to make a game. For those who have part time jobs, such as working at Roche Brothers, employers should be understanding of being let out a little later. Many businesses that hire teenagers also don’t let their shifts start until 3 p.m., so there should be no troubles with getting to sports practices or jobs on time.

In conclusion, the benefits outweigh the negative aspects of starting school 20 minutes later, and these negative reasons can be worked around. It is more important to put  students mental and physical health first. It can also improve the performance level of students, as well as improve their attitude throughout the day.

Work Cited:

Kenda, Ann. “Westborough to Consider Later School Start times.” Natick Bulletin and Tab. N.p., 9 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. <http://natick.wickedlocal.com/article/20160209/NEWS/160206071>.

“Teens and Sleep.” National Sleep Foundation. National Sleep Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep>.