Should School Start Later to Lower Teenager’s Risk of Danger

Introduction

“Should school start later in the morning?”, the persuasive essay persuades the audience into believing that high schools should start later in the day. Imagine this, you’re a freshman in high school, your mom wakes you up for school at 6am. She tells you to wake up for school, but you just want to go back to bed because you couldn’t get a good night's sleep. You wish that school would start later in the day. As a former high school student, I believe that it is important for teens in high school to get enough sleep at night. However, some high schools throughout the U.S. prevent this from happening by starting school too early in the morning. I am going to go into detail about some of the dangers that can be caused by starting school too early in the morning, obstacles that prevent high schools from starting later, and a solution that can help solve these issues.

Body

Students Who Start the Day Earlier Could Be at Risk for Danger

The first negative effect would be that high schools that start too early can prevent a teenager from getting enough sleep. The CDC recommends that kids get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night. One study has shown that only 15% of teenagers get enough sleep on school nights. That is not enough sleep for them. Therefore, teenagers can experience the side effects of sleep deprivation. As a result, teenagers could become really tired, which could be dangerous for them if they drive to school.

Teenagers who drive while they are tired are at a higher risk of being involved in a car accident than drivers who got enough sleep during the night. The AAA claims that driver drowsiness causes an average of 100,000 car accidents per year. However, if teens start school later, their chances of getting the recommended amount of sleep could increase. They would have more energy. Their chances of getting involved in a vehicular accident would decrease. Therefore, it would be safer for them to drive to school.

In addition to car accidents, teenagers who go to school in the dark are also at an increased risk of danger. “Early start times for a school, sometimes before 8 am, require children to get to school in the dark. They might be waiting at a bus stop in the dark”. This is dangerous for teens who drive to school because it could be difficult for them to see the objects and pedestrians while they drive by. As a result, teen drivers may run into an object or a pedestrian while they are driving. On the other hand, it could also be dangerous for teens who take the bus to school because they may not be able to see where their going. Therefore, they may fall and get severely injured. On top of that, they could possibly get kidnapped. However, the amount of danger that is caused by starting school too early would be reversed if there were later start times. It would make it easier for adolescents to see other objects and people. It could also potentially decrease their chances of getting kidnapped.

These Barriers Make It Difficult to Make the Transitions to Later Start Times

One of the problems is that if school schedules change, that could also add a lot of stress on many different families. “Most people are resistant to change and emotions can run high when someone is forced to alter his/her routine. Most families have a highly coordinated schedule worked out to balance the many activities of each of its members. The thought of reworking this delicate balance can be intimidating”. It may be hard for families to change their schedules because the new schedule that is created may not work for all family members.

In addition to this, after school sports can also be affected by the school schedule change. “Any delay in the start of school will most likely result in a later release time, which may reduce time available for practice and matches (especially daylight hours)”. This would mean that students, who participate in after school sports, would not be able to practice as much as they would if school were to start earlier. Therefore, they would not be as prepared for their matches.

Another obstacle is that students may have less time to do their homework. “Students who are involved in sports or extracurricular school-sponsored activities may find themselves may find themselves with a limited amount of time to complete their work each day. That would force them to stay up later to get their work done, which would then negate the benefits that having a later start time would be able to create”. If this were to happen, then having a later start time wouldn’t solve anything. Instead, it would just create more problems, such the other obstacles that were mentioned earlier.

One Solution is to Create a Petition About Why High Schools Should Start Later

“Strong petitions also usually propose reasonable solutions to the problem or issue”. If we can just create a strong petition, we potentially give high schools our ideas. There are websites that allow people to make petitions. One of which is a website called change.org. There are several different steps to create a petition on this website. First, you need to make a brief headline that makes it clear about the change that you would like. In this case, the change would be to have high schools start later. You’ll also want your headline to focus on your solution and have an attention getter. The next step is to pick a decision maker. “Make your decision maker the person or people within an organization who are responsible for your solution or who you need to convince”. Your decision maker should be a person who can help you achieve your goal. You should also include your decision maker’s email address so that they can be notified when the petition is up and when it has received signatures. The third step is to give information about your decision maker’s actions and the solutions that they’ve come up with to reach the goals that are listed in your petition. Explain what your goals and obstacles are, which would be to make it easier for high schools to change their schedule. You should also go into detail about what you hope for and what you are scared about the aftermath of your actions towards reaching your goals. The last step is to choose a picture or add a video to your petition. “A great photo captures the emotion of your petition and tells a story in an instant”. If you choose to put a photo, make sure that it’s 1600 x 900 pixels or larger. If you need to, you can look for photos online. On the other hand, if you choose to add a video, just make sure that it gives information about what you want to change, your solutions, goals, and obstacles. If this petition becomes successful, we could potentially help high schools make the transition from starts early to having a later start time.

Conclusion

As a review, it is important for high schools to start later in the morning. There are some dangerous events that can be caused by starting school early in the morning. However, there are also some obstacles that come with starting school at a later time. Fortunately, there are solutions that can help overcome the barriers, one of which would be to start a petition. Just remember that high schools in the U.S. should start later in the day to decrease a teenager’s risk of danger.

Work Cited

• Create Your Petition. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2019, from http://guide.change.org/create.
• Delaying School Start Times. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/eight-major-obstacles-delaying-school-start-times.
• Morin, A. (2019, July 25). Should High Schools Start Later so Teens Can Get More Sleep? Retrieved November 6, 2019, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-starting-school-later-2609565.
• Regoli, N. (n.d.). 19 Should School Start Later in the Morning Pros and Cons. Retrieved November 6, 2019, from https://vittana.org/19-should-school-start-later-in-the-morning-pros-and-cons.
• Richmond, E. (2015, August 17). Why School Should Start Later in the Morning. Retrieved November 6, 2019, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/08/why-school-should-start-later/401489/.
• Rocchi, J. (2015, June 16). 9 Tips for Creating Successful Petitions on Change.org: National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https://savingplaces.org/stories/preservation-tips-tools-9-tips-for-creating-successful-petitions-on-change-org.
• Sleep for Teenagers. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/teens-and-sleep.