Board Of Education Has Proposed To Start High School Earlier
Board Of Education Has Proposed To Start High School Earlier
The proposal submitted by the local Board of Education to start high school earlier is absurd. Although the idea of accommodating an expanding schedule may sound convincing, there are many factors that should be taken into consideration before making a final decision.
I believe that starting school earlier could have negative effects on high school students due to sleep deprivation of the teenagers during adolescence. The teenagers’ sleep patterns change. Compared to when the teenagers used to be little children and went to bed early and woke up early, most adolescents prefer staying up later at night and sleeping later in the morning. I can personally relate to such fact. Researchers call this sleep pattern a “delayed phase preference” that is not a matter of choice. As the sleep deficit develops caused by the early start of first period in high school, the students are put at significant risk of school time sleepiness. This major factor contributes to the witnessed fallen asleep students at their desks, because they cannot biologically handle such early start of the school day. If the Board of Education considers starting school earlier in order to accommodate an expanding schedule thinking it is a great idea, they are in for a big surprise. The thought of an expanding schedule is an excellent educational theory. However, if a large group of sleep-deprived students is present, they will only learn less of the new program as compared to the previous schedule. If such change in the high school takes place, the students will earn lower grades. Referring to the table of sleep time, bed time, and rise time for students getting different grades in two different states, it is observed that students with higher grades tend to get more school-night total sleep time. If the new schedule starts school earlier than it previously used to be, students will wake up a lot earlier, meaning they will be tired earlier in the evening. This will cause them to either fall asleep with unfinished homework, or finish their homework until late at night. This might cause them to be tired throughout the whole day at school, nodding off in class and even worse behind the wheel of a car. It is also notable on the table that students going to bed latest earn the lowest grades. As discussed before,...