It takes the average person about two and a half hours for their brain to be 100% awake after waking up from a night’s sleep (or lack thereof). Most people wake up at around 7 a.m. and attend school at 8 a.m., meaning they are spending half of their morning classes half attentive.

Parents, teachers, and most importantly students suffer the consequences of having to wake up early everyday. Starting school at later times would prevent sleep deprivation, accidents, and would boost overall academic performance. 

It is recommended that adolescents and young adults get upwards of 8 hours of sleep per night in order to be productive the next day. Kids’ lives these days are very busy; the average kid goes to school for 6 hours and then participates in at least two extracurricular activities, whether that be a club or sport.

Kids are occupied most of the day and usually fall asleep later due to wanting to stay up late on their phones or finishing homework. Teens are sleep deprived – and making kids wake up and operate motor vehicles or get in a car with someone else driving to get to school early increases the chances of accidents.

The sleep deprivation also causes decreased performance in school, which in term results with bad grades. Starting school at later times would allow teens to get more sleep, thus improving academic performance, overall health, and decreasing the chances of accidents of side effects of sleep deprivation.

Later school times might pose a problem to parents that have to drive their kids to school because it might interfere with the time they are expected at work. School would also have to end later to compensate for the required hours kids have to be in school everyday for a year. But when we weigh the benefits of a late starts to the consequences of a late start, the pros outweigh the cons and there are easy fixes for the potential problems that a late start might cause.

If parents have problems driving their kids to school, kids can always use public transportation, ride on the school bus to school, or catch a ride from a friend. If kids start getting more sleep,  their grades will go up as a result.  

Starting school later would allow students to have time to sleep so they can rest their brains in order to excel in the classroom. Sleep deprivation rates would fall, and grades and GPAs would rise. School districts need to prioritize students mental and physical health in order to get the most out of their students.