According to Time, Mary Carkadon, a professor of psychiatry, says, “Kids may be sitting in schools, but their heads are still asleep on pillows at home.”
Most high school students go to school at around 7 a.m., but the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that high school and middle school start from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. because of how inconvenient the current time is for teenagers.
Some teenagers might not even be in the right mindset; they could have stayed up a little longer or they could have been dreading going to school in the morning, which further affects their mindset.
Yakira Haynes, a sophomore at Landstown High School (LHS), expresses, “There are definitely times when I still feel tired even after getting a full night of sleep. On those mornings, it’s like my body is moving but my mind isn’t awake. I feel sluggish and it’s harder to focus or stay positive.”
It’s been scientifically proven that teenagers ages 13-18 should be getting 8-10 hours of sleep according to APA, so when teenagers are forced to wake up so early it affects their minds and their social activity.
Teachers question why some of their students blankly stare at them instead of responding efficiently to lessons, but it’s not hard to realize that the students just need a break.
Some teenagers have to deal with teachers constantly badgering them about falling asleep during their lessons, but it’s not their fault that adults have decided what time they should go to school.
Liam Burge, a sophomore, at LHS, has stated that “I’ve fallen asleep in class due to waking up so early.”
Asking students ages 14-18 to wake up at the crack of dawn and be able to learn is an outrageous task, teenagers aren’t even alert at these times let alone being able to get properly ready in the morning.
It’s not even just students either, teachers have struggled with the cruel start times too. Michelle Perfect, a professor of school psychology, has even quoted that her research has found that “inadequate sleep duration and poor sleep quality are common among teachers” according to APA.
It’s not just students struggling. It’s teachers too. The only difference being that students are teenagers and teachers are adults, so if it’s hard for a teacher too imagine how it is for students, the difficulties of having to wake up early to be assigned work could be complicated and stress out students.
School start times are just another problem that teenagers have to put up with, so it’s time we change that and start school later in the morning to give teenagers a chance on a successful school day.
