Do you feel that school should start a little later and end a little later? I’m pretty sure most kids and teenagers would rather wake up later and come home later, right? Or, is that just me? There are a couple reasons this is a great idea.

Many students would be able to pay attention better because they wouldn’t be so tired. Why on earth are there high schools opening before 7:30? Students should get more sleep, especially if they are learning for more than six hours a day. If you make the time for school to start later, many students' test grades and classwork grades would go up. "I think generally, it's safe to say that in the discussions in our communities no one argued with the research. I think 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. would be ideal," said Michael L. Wood, superintendent of the Bolton-based Nashoba Regional School District. Mr. Wood said he is a huge proponent of changing start times to better align with the research on sleep and learning in adolescents, and he has presented on the topic to his colleagues at a Massachusetts Association of School Committee Conference.

Sleepy teens are more prone to be tardy, absent, moody, inattentive and less able to learn. Students that come in moody and cranky because of no sleep can cause many problems and issues. If someone says something they don’t like, they may easily flip out. Also, they will be disrespectful without any sleep. Teenagers should get between nine or ten hours of sleep at night, but they average fewer than seven.

I know you’re probably thinking, “Oh, why don’t they just go to bed earlier?” However, the chemicals that regulate sleep in the brain function at different times for everyone. According to Google, the brain works at different times for different ages. It also generates two different kinds of sleep, such as slow-wave sleep and deep sleep. When kids are in that deep sleep, it’s hard for them to get up early and cooperate with so many activities early in the morning. Nerve-signaling chemicals control whether we are asleep or awake at a certain time. The earlier it is, the harder it is. Everyone will be so much happier and love school much more after more sleep. Thirty-three percent of students reported falling asleep in school. If we started later they would have more hours to sleep and wouldn’t have to fall asleep in the middle of class.

Also, in winter students are up before the sun and it’s still dark outside while walking to their bus stops. This isn’t safe for kids. If kids walk to school in the dark, they can get hurt and who knows what else could happen. The darker the time when kids go to school, the more likely it is they will be in a bad mood. It will also give students more time in the morning to get the most important meal of the day, and it gives them more time to fully wake up. If you ask students what they’re doing over break, chances are high that they’ll say, "Sleeping." This is why we need to start school later.