Should the start time for school be pushed back?

Aleksyia LeClere

Intro to Media: Journalism

Every year students from all different schools complain about how early their school starts. And every year there is a suggestion that we push it back. Of course as we all know, school starts at 7:50 a.m. But is this too early? I asked my fellow classmate Michellene about what she thought. She explained that,"I say no because we will get out of school late. And get more sleep and be able to do more stuff." What she means by this is that if we start school later in the day we will not have much time to do things after school, such as:
1. Homework
2. Out and about things etc.

Another person that agrees with Michellene, is my friend Lina, she says, "No, I mean, if they are pushing it back they are only gonna' push it back by 5 minutes right?.... every year we (the students) ask them (meaning the school) to push it back, and they only push it back by like, 5 minutes..." And this is all because California Gov. of Jerry Brown, as educationdive.com explains that,

"After  Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would keep middle and high schools from opening before 8:30 a.m., advocates are pushing back, calling for districts nationwide to move forward with the policy and start their school days later.Shifting school start times back would let students get much-needed sleep, boost their health and increase their academic performance, according to articles in The New York Times and The Atlantic. But there are underlying questions about the effects of later start times — how districts would fund increased transportation costs, how after-school activities would be affected and how the new schedule would interfere with parents’ work days."

Many doctors, and authoritative figures disagree with the "early start" time of school. Such as Kyla Wahlstrom, Ph.D. who is a director of the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement,College of Education and Human Development, and finally, the University of Minnesota. She claims that, "Early school start times interrupt this natural sleep pattern, leaving many high school students sleep deprived." Kyla has helped conduct studies of sleep patterns with University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) of teens pertaining to school. 

 Since finals will be coming up soon, and students have already been studying like mad, we (meaning students) need to figure out a way to work around the early school schedule. And as you can see through multiple studies, everyone has their own opinion on this topic. But I believe that changing the school start time would be poor decision to make. Due to the fact that we have gotten used to getting up at a certain time. And if we change it now, or a year from now it would mess up our sleeping patterns. In conclusion, make sure to put down those notebooks and textbooks, and make sure to get some sleep. You will need it!