Just One More Hour a Night

As I have moved through various grades in the Eureka School District, instruction has begun earlier and earlier.
In elementary school, my day began at 9 a.m. My old junior high, Cavitt Stallman, starts at 8:30 a.m. At Granite Bay High School, kids are expected to be in class by 7:45–a ridiculously early time for kids to have to pay attention.
Next year I will be in band, which requires students to be at school at 6:45!
I have to set my alarm to 5:45 to make myself presentable and prepared. Because of zero period next year, I will have to set my alarm back an hour to 4:45! I will be up before the newspaper is delivered to our house.
If our school started later, zero period kids wouldn’t have to wake up hours before the sun rises.
And students would be able to get more sleep.
According to kidshealth.org, teenagers have a tendency to want to fall asleep later and sleep in longer. The reason for this is because during puberty, the body’s circadian rhythm (sort of like an internal body clock) is delayed, making it harder for teens to fall asleep early.
The reason our school starts so early is because of the bus schedules. It seems to me that whoever designed the bus schedules must not have considered the sleep patterns of students of the various grade levels.
It makes more sense for our school’s time to be flipped with the elementary school’s time because according to sleepfoundation.org, younger kids tend to get up earlier than teens.
I realize that if Granite Bay High School started an hour later, our school day would end an hour later. But taking into account that a teen’s delayed circadian rhythm makes it harder for teens to fall asleep early, an hour after school should not affect the time teens fall asleep too much. Getting out of school later only means one less hour that kids have to mess around on Facebook and watch Spongebob.
Another problem I have with the schools starting time is I find it hard to pay attention so early in the morning. During first period, I am still waking up and it is difficult to absorb information that is given to me.
On collaboration days, I perform best as a student–I am more alert, organized and eager to learn. If every day started as late as 8:45, I would have more energy and be able to focus better in class.
A new high school in Madera County was recently identified by The Sacremento Bee as the nation’s “model for what public education might look like in the future.” The article published on April 2 has not only technological innovations at Minarets High–for example, all students use laptops in classes–but a late starting time: “Classes start at 8:40 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.”
If GBHS wants to be on the “cutting edge,” its first class should begin when students are alert.
If our school started an hour later, students would be able to get an hour more sleep every morning. More sleep means more energy and better focused in class. And with a later start, students would be more awake and willing to start the day. It only makes sense to start later.