Every weekday Monday thru Friday school starts at 7:45. Most students would tell you this is too early, that they have a hard time getting up or staying focused at school. So what’s the solution?
Should school start later? Let’s take a look locally at Timpanogos High School. This year they were picked to be an experimental school. They start the first period at 8:15, 30 minutes later than other alpine district high schools. “That extra 30 minutes each morning makes a huge difference,” Timpanogos student Joe Byers said “ It’s easier to wake up, get ready and cause much less stress each morning.” This is just one example and opinion from inside our community.
So what is the optimal start time? Sleepfoundation.org concluded that middle school and high school should start no later than 8:30. This could be debated for lots of different times, but most articles say the same thing school starts too early! People ages 11-18 should get at least 8 hours of sleep a night and could benefit from as much as 10 hours of sleep. With most high school students juggling a busy schedule is that even possible. From friends, sports, homework, school etc for lots of students getting to bed isn’t always their main priority.
We’ve heard from students and studies on why school should start later, what about teachers? Teachers work so hard to make the best learning environment for their students, working constantly even after school is over. “School should start earlier,” Says Mr Fieldsted. “When we look at successful people who are up early every morning, working hard,” This is a different opinion but it makes sense. “If school started earlier students would go to bed earlier so they could wake up earlier,” he also stated. Not everyone shares the same opinion on school start times, this is beneficial towards finding the best time.
No matter how you feel about school and the time we start and get out, it seems most students, teachers, parents and professionals have strong feelings about it.