Don’t Let Sleep be the Struggle of School

I am a freshman in high school. I have gone to a school setting all my life whether it be daycare or actual school.

Freedom, something present in very few days of my life in the morning. I was suddenly aware of the fact that I kept missing my alarm and that I wasn’t very aware in the morning. This hit me suddenly last year after a math quiz walking to my language arts class. I started to realize that I wasn’t doing as well in my morning classes as I was in my afternoon classes even though my morning classes were my favorite and the easiest. I started to realize that I wasn’t able to follow and retain the information given to me in the morning classes as I was able to in the afternoon ones. I started to realize that my alarm clock didn’t spring me out from bed anymore.

I started to realize that I started to despise going to bed at curfew. I started to realized that I dislike getting up from bed in the morning more and more. I started to realize that things were changing with me and I wasn’t sure whether to alarmed or not. I started to notice that as the day went on I got more active and social. I noticed that I started to relax and notice things more.

I notice that I wasn’t the only one that changed like this, others also started to become more friendly and alert. This got me thinking about why this was happening. Exactly why it was happening. As I did some research I stumbled upon a site by Erinn Hutkin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. It compared Night Owls and Morning Larks; morning people and night people. I learned that teenagers are actually night people and function more at night.

This was actually interesting and it put a lot of pieces into the puzzle. That would explain why I have trouble waking up and why I find myself more active in the evening. I know that for kids, school is one of the most important things that we can have whether we think that or not. It sets us up for the future and helps us get a good job, good life, good place, good friends, good resources. Since school is so important we need to do things that will help us towards success and our goals. I think that means we need to push back school start times.

I don’t mean a whole lot but enough to help like maybe an hour or so… maybe more… or maybe less. Later school times will help the students working late at night with the already tough curriculum to get a needed and healthy amount of sleep. This will not only increase attention but will also increase academic and athletics. My research from the same place also explains that night people are also more efficient and quick in their assignments few hours after waking up. This will not only increase the rate and at which these kids are able to learn but also how well they do. Going from the laid back life of middle school and then jumping into the hectic and competitive high school is a big change.

High school is very important and a big part of your life. As the expectations at school change so should the expectation outside of school. If schools care, care at all, they should push start times back. School should be looking out for the students, they should have their best interest at hearts. It is the school’s job to make sure students are able to succeed and flourish and that can be accomplished through extra sleep. Think about it, with all that extra sleep, what would you be able to accomplish?