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Zena Smith

Mrs.Cramer

College Comp. 1 Pd. 6A

24 March 2017

Hit the Snooze on School Alarms

When you see kids all over town without adults, or smoking, or drinking, or getting into

trouble, do you think to yourself where it all went wrong?1 What could have changed to make

these kids choose different lifestyles?2 Be a better person? Have more respect? It all ties back to

school. It is a fact that the government makes every child go to school. However, once they are in

school, that is where every adolescent makes or breaks their future. Students get choices, but it is

the decisions they make that turn out to mold who they are as they grow up. High school is the

four hardest years of their lives as a teenager. That time is where they find out their true selves,

and where they choose where they are going in life. High school start times should be later

because adolescents are getting little to no sleep and spend more time at home alone.

First, The sleeping pattern of the teenager is a major cause to why High Schools should

change their times later. Teenagers have a hormone in the body called melatonin. (Bratsis)

Changes in the brain during adolescence alter teens' circadian rhythm, their internal body clock

(Bratsis). Circadian rhythm is controlled by the suprachiasmatic brain's hypothalamus that

responds to signals from the optic nerve, which senses light and dark (Bratsis). If teenagers tend

1 Anaphora- I used the word "or" repeatedly in my list to make a point.

2 Rhetorical Question- I used this rhetorical question to get a point across and get
the reader to think even with an obvious answer to it.
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to be around light during nighttime, their brain tends to react and keep them alert and energized

longer. According to studies, in the morning, light triggers signals telling the SCN it's time to

wake, and the SCN responds by signaling other parts of the brain to raise body temperature and

delay the release of melatonin, which is produced when the eyes signal to the SCN that it's dark

(Bratsis). Later start times are in line with research showing adolescents are biologically wired

like a clock for later bedtimes and wake-ups. Lack of rest is linked to increased risks of

depression, car accidents and other problems3 (St. George). A variety of factors affect the

quantity and quality of adolescents' sleep, including stress, obstructive sleep apnea, caffeine

consumption, alcohol consumption, jobs, homework, sports, poor time management skills, and

school start times (Noland). Many symptoms of not getting enough sleep are depression, obesity,

lower academic scores, less concentration, increase in anger, impulsivity, and sadness (Journal).

Conversely, It could be argued that many people agree to bring up the fact that parent

work schedules would not fit in with the times if the school changed them to a later time. When

school starts at 8:05, most parents get to see their kids before they go to school and then go to

work themselves. If the time would happen to change to 9:00 then they would not be able to take

their kids to school and get to work on time, which is mainly a problem for parents with younger

children who need supervision and help in the morning to get ready. The parents have to get

them on the bus as well, taking into consideration, that if the high schools change the start times,

the law states that the other schools must change their times as well for bus schedule purposes. It

effects the teenagers of the high school as well, when most of them rely on their parents to wake

them up and make them breakfast while getting ready in time to catch the bus. Although It may

be a tragedy to some parents schedules, while they may not like making their kids ride the bus,

3 Simile- this is a simile that compares teenagers wired brains with clocks causing
them to go off to wake them up.
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every student in every school has a bus assigned to their house to pick them up. It is a law that

each kid has a bus schedule so they can get transportation to school even when their parents are

not able to take them.

On the other hand, in a study, It is found that students who start school one hour later

watch twelve fewer minutes of television per day and spend nine minutes more on homework per

week, perhaps because students spend less time home alone (Edwards). If students get home at a

later time, then it is less likely they will have the freedom to turn to bad habits. A few examples

of a student being home alone and the opportunities they have, are drinking alcohol, smoking

cigarettes or marijuana, hanging out with the wrong crowd while roaming around town causing

trouble and doing drugs, all while the parents are still at work without knowing what their child

is doing the whole time.4 The drop out rate of teenagers in high school are rising every year. In

other studies, it shows that students who start at later times and are more likely to show up and

have a better attendance record with less tardies or absences (Edward). Benefits observed from

later times involve increased attendance rates, decrease in disciplinary action, attention spans,

decrease in sleeping in classes, and increase in student/family interactions (Later School).

Meanwhile, there are strong arguments about the effects of after school activities.

Students who are participating in sports, clubs, and other after school activities normally meet for

a few hours after school. If the school times are moved to a later time then the activities also

would be later in the day. This would be difficult for some students to be involved in these

activities, go to work if they have a job, have family time, do homework, hangout with friends,

and still go to bed at a decent hour. In recent years many schools have come up with a solution

for these problems. They have made a system where a number of buses are at the school for most

4 Exemplum- these are examples to my main points.

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activities after school and take the students home when it is over. The buses are like the schools

own parents to make sure the kids are home safe.5 Many teachers that run the activities also

provide transportation to the adolescents along with other options, whether it be with the

teenagers friends or even their parents coming to get them. There are many situations that could

come about, but the basic solution is the student be more time managing and make time for all of

their after school activities. It is their choice for every activity they involve themselves in from

the start.

In conclusion, school start times are a main cause to students in school being home alone

for a period of time and getting little to no sleep every night, which is why school start times

need to change to a later date. If adolescents are getting no sleep and stay up late because of their

hormones and sleep patterns, something needs to change. If all high schools change their times it

will improve the teenagers health, improvements in grades, and emotions all around. Knowing

this about adolescents now, maybe the schools will rethink about the times and make it so there

are less car accidents, students consuming alcohol, smoking, and getting into trouble or even

ending up severely injured or just dropping out all together and getting nowhere in life.

5 Analogy- I drew out my point of the buses being like another parent.
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Works Cited

Bratsis, Michal E. "The Scientific Case for Starting High School Later." The Science Teacher.

N.p., n.d. Web. December 2014. Access, March 7.

Edwards, Finley. "Do Schools Begin Too Early?" Ednext Podcast. Marty West. Summer 2012.

Access, March 7.

"Later School Start Times Promote Adolescent Well-Being." American Psychological

Association. 2014. Access, March 7.

Noland, Heather. "Adolescents' Sleep Behaviors and Perceptions of Sleep." Journal of School

Health. N.p., May 2009. Access, March 7.

St. George, Donera. "Debate over school start times flares anew." The Washington Post. January

1. Access, March 7.