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Lydia Rabe
Mrs. Duran
English 1010
November 22, 2016
How Does the Time High School Starts Affect Teenagers?
Sleep deprivation is very common in the teenage years. Between work, homework,
distractions, and not getting tired until late at night, most teenagers get less than eight hours of
sleep and are constantly exhausted. This makes the time school starts for them a huge issue
because the earlier school starts, the less teens get to sleep. It can be challenging to them
academically and physically. How does high school start time affect teenagers? Sources I found
were Most U.S. Middle and High Schools Start the School Day too Early from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Resources, Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start
Times from the National Sleep Foundation, and Teachers Overwhelmingly Oppose Later High
School Start Times in Montgomery from the Washington Post.
The first source explored was Most U.S. Middle and High Schools Start the School Day
Too Early, an article by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in August of
2015. I chose this article because it directly addressed my question, showing studies about the
negative affects to teens from classes beginning too early in the morning. The article stated that
schools should not start before 8:30 am, in order to allow for teens to get sufficient sleep. It
pointed out that Fewer than 1 in 5 middle and high schools in the U.S. began the school day at
the recommended 8:30 AM start time or later during the 2011-2012 school year The article
also mentioned that there were many negative affects to teens because of how early most schools
start. Schools that have a start time of 8:30 AM or later allow adolescent students the

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opportunity to get the recommended amount of sleep on school nights: about 8.5 to 9.5 hours.
Insufficient sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health
risks such as being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs-as well as
poor academic performance. These are common problems among teens that are caused partly
because of how early school starts. This article helped me to understand many of the negative
effects to teens because of school starting too early. It also gave me the doctor recommended
time for school to start, 8:30 am, and pointed out how few schools actually start that late. These
are all important factors in the effects of school start time on teens.
Another source I found was Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start Times,
published by the National Sleep Foundation in 2016. I chose this source because it showed some
of the negative effects to teens of starting school later. Most articles on the topic show negative
effects of starting school early, so it was an interesting and different viewpoint. This article
argues that high schools have to start early because a later class time would interfere with things
teens have to do after school. It stated that after school activities would have less time to occur
in the evenings, especially outdoor sports that rely on daylight. High school athletics are very
important to many students who have obvious concerns about the impact of a change in start
times on their ability to participate. Any delay in the start of school will most likely result in a
later release time, which may reduce time available for practice and matches (especially daylight
hours). It also said that many teenagers have to babysit after school, or have a job. Starting
school later could add unnecessary family and financial stress on these students. There are many
other effects to a family when these kinds of schedule changes occur. Most families have a
highly coordinated schedule worked out to balance the many activities of each of its members.
The thought of reworking this delicate balance can be intimidating. It could also cost parents, as

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they would need daycare for the younger students who would end up getting out earlier than their
older siblings. This information shows the effects of school starting later on teens and their
families. This source helped me see a much different opinion than other sources. It showed me
that there are as many problems to students with school starting too late as there is from school
starting too early.
The last source I chose was Teachers Overwhelmingly Oppose Later Start Times in
Montgomery, published by the Washington Post. I chose this article because it showed that
teenagers arent the only ones affected by the time that school starts. While there were others
that insisted later times would stress the community, this was one of very few articles I found
that mentioned real problems and a group of people that would be affected. This article argued
that teachers did not want school to begin later. Nearly half the districts 12,000 teachers
responded to the survey, and 63 percent said they favor not changing high school bell times, the
only one of seven options the school board is considering that drew a majority. More than 50
percent said they were opposed to shifting start times 20 minutes later, and more than 60 percent
opposed moving bell times 35 minutes later, according to the survey results. They had reasons
for this opposition. It would make it harder for them to commute to and from the school, and
they also raised concerns about the impact for students. He said teachers who were surveyed
also raised concerns about lower-income families-with students who have to work after-school
jobs or take care of younger siblings-and whether theyd be able to do those activities if the
school day is shifted. Teachers also raised concerns, he said, about how late extracurricular
activities would go if school start times were changed. This suggests that while earlier start
times may not be good for the health of teenagers, they could be better for teachers, and that
teachers are concerned with the activities of students when considering this question. This

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information is helpful because it shows a very different perspective on when school should start
and why. While students and parents are discussed in almost every article on the subject,
teachers are rarely mentioned, giving this article a valuable and rare perspective.
The time school starts can have huge effects on parents, teachers, students, and the
community. Early school times harm the health of students, and late school times cause family
stress on both students and teachers. This could be caused by school boards ignoring doctors,
false beliefs that teenagers are just lazy and dont need the sleep, and the opposition of educators
and communities to change. One solution to this problem could be to start the school day at 8:00.
This would be later than the 7:30 found in many schools, but still early enough not to interfere
with after school needs. It would allow students to still go home and babysit or get to a job, and
teachers to be able to go home to their families. I still would like to know more about the
practical side of changing the school times. It seems like there would be a lot of logic problems
to changing when school starts, with things like bus routes. I want to know what these problems
are and how they would need to be solved to make school start later. I also would like to know
how many of the teachers in the survey I found were actually high school teachers. I could find
these answers through further research of why people believe that school should not start earlier,
and by further looking into the study.

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Works Cited

"Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start Times." National Sleep Foundation, 2016. Web.
22 Nov. 2016.
"Most US Middle and High Schools Start the Day Too Early." Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 6 Aug. 2015. Web. 22 Nov.
2016.
Zauzmer, Julie, and Dana Hedgpeth. "Teachers Overwhelmingly Oppose Later High School Start
times in Montgomery." The Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.