Notes

In schools where the start time is after 8:30 in the morning, the faculty and staff believe that there has been a real change in their students. They note that the students miss class less, pay more attention in class, perform better in class, and report lower levels of depression3. These changes are clearly not just coincidental. The researchers of these studies say that the results are quite significant and that more schools should consider pushing up their start times4. Another issue is the time when standardized tests are given. Most of these tests are given at 8am, which can, in fact, hinder the performance of otherwise intelligent kids. Out of all of the times in the school day, 8am results in the poorest scores, since the brains of the kids are not fully functional at this time5.



The short-term consequences include bad moods, a deterioration in learning ability, being wearier, being less alert, having to expend greater effort to learn, and an increase in skipped classes8. All of these are common symptoms visible in high schools across the country. More specifically, the loss of REM sleep (rapid eye movement) may result in memory loss, a decline in information processing, increased irritability and anxiety, decreased socialization and humor, hypersexuality, mental fatigue, decrease in creativity, and a decline in the ability to handle complex tasks9. And with consistent lack of sleep, the effects become more serious. The long-term consequences can range from being misdiagnosed with ADHD, to diabetes, serious sleep problems, rebelliousness, cigarette smoking, depression, heart disease, obesity, and even a shortened life span10. Another large consequence of tired teens is that they are more likely to get behind the wheel when they are tired, leading to accidents caused by simply not getting enough sleep. Drowsy driving is a major cause of accidents among adolescents11. But many school administrators are hesitant to change school start times.



The major reason seems to be bus schedules and after-school activities. Schools are worried that they will have to buy new busses or spend money in other ways. In fact, some schools that have changed their start time have switched start times with their corresponding middle or elementary schools, easily avoiding this problem. Another counterargument is that if school starts later, then school must get out later. Yet I think that getting out of school later is a positive consequence. Ending school at 2:30pm doesn’t really make sense. First of all, kids have more time in between when they get out of school and when their parents get home, which can lead to unproductive behavior. Also, kids that drive home would be less likely to get into an accidents due to fatigue12.