A common complaint among Mount Pisgah Christian School students is waking up early for school.
Waking up for school so early may impact a student’s mindset and overall focus in school. Many students believe that a later start to their day at school would not only improve their health mentally and physically, but also enhance their overall academic life.
“I wake up for school around 6:15 a.m. When I manage to go to sleep earlier I feel pretty good throughout the day. However, because of studying for tests and quizzes, doing homework, extracurricular activities and many other things I rarely go to sleep at a decent time which ends up affecting my focus in class the next day,” said sophomore Emily Shelton. “Having a later start to the school day would allow for me to still get the amount of sleep required to have a good and productive day at school.”
Many high school students have naturally delayed sleep schedules, which makes early mornings much more difficult. Sleep deprivation can result in major impacts on a student’s ability to learn and pay attention in school.
“I believe that starting the school day later would be beneficial for me and many other students because students such as us would be able to get more sleep leading to students waking up with more energy and allowing for a more productive mindset,” says Cydney Rowand. “A reasonable wake-up time for high school students should be around 7:30 a.m. to get ready for school as many students stay up later at night due to sports, schoolwork, and other commitments so waking up as early as many high school students do is not ideal.”
However, starting school at a later time also comes with many difficulties and challenges. Having a later start time would result in students’ extracurricular activities being pushed back and them getting home later in the evening.
“I can certainly empathize with the student who would like a later start to their day. The research supports such a decision as well, showing that adolescents’ sleep schedules are better suited to a later start of the school day,” said Mr. Stuckey. “ I don’t believe that an improvement in work ethic or focus would be one outcome of a later start time. One thing that must also be considered is the participation in extracurricular activities. A later start time could impact such activities and disrupt student sleep schedules even more than they already do.”
Many challenges come alongside pushing school start time back every morning but many high schoolers continue to push for this change.
