Here at Tahoma Senior High school we tend to have an attendance problem over the past few years, head of attendance at Tahoma Senior High School, Christina Azizeh says, “On average we had 20-30 students who were tardy on a daily basis last year.” I asked her if she knew why, she responded, “I believe it’s because of lack of sleep and students sleeping in, finals week are the most terrible.”  Last year school started at 8:15. Keep in mind that this year, our school starts at 7:40 in the morning, which is 35 minutes earlier than last years time. Wouldn’t that make even more students be tardy? Since school starts so early and the Admin was so upset about tardies last year, why would they have such an early start time? Every student hates being tardy and it also affects their grades, why would you want to push them so close to the edge? The American Academy of Pediatrics say that students should be getting about 8 hours of sleep every night so their brains can be fully able to learn the next day. So how could we learn from this and how could we change it? I believe that a sufficient start time would be 8:45. I feel like it would solve all of the tardy problems the schools faces on a daily basis. Maybe the students would feel better and more alive when they walk through those front doors.  

Also, physically the body needs its sleep. Senior Piper Connell said “I am booked with Ap and advanced classes so I stay up until 12:30 every night then wake up at about 6:30, so on average I get about 6 hours of sleep.” It’s also a common thing for teens to stay up late, especially if they have finals or a load of homework to do. Making students get up so early for school is a very harsh thing on their bodies. Senior Halle Dagley says, “ Last year the start time was 8:15 and it was way nicer. It would be great to be able to sleep in a little longer, 35 minutes makes a huge difference.”

In an article written by the Atlantic Media, they state that “more than 40 states, 75% of the public schools start earlier than 8:30” This says a lot, because as the student mentioned in her quote, 35 minutes makes a huge difference.

As a student myself, I wonder why it is hard for me to focus at school. After research I now understand that my brain doesn’t get the sleep it needs. I average around 6-7 hours of sleep every night. This is because of homework and extracurricular activities I am involved in. A study in Virginia has proven how students are not getting the hours they need. “ Although teenagers need about nine hours of sleep a night on average, according to the National Institutes of Health, only 3 percent of students reported getting that amount, and 20 percent of participants indicated that they got five hours or less. The average amount reported was 6.5 hours every weekday night.” Schools around the country say they understand how much sleep a teenager needs, but do they REALLY understand. According to the study, this one high school of  27,939 students did not meet the criteria to a healthy brain. Not to shoot too hard for the basket but, studies also show that kids become more harm for themselves if they don’t get enough sleep. They get sick, depressed and stressed. Evidently they could become suicidal. In the same study in Virginia, researches started to gather information from the background of the students. They found something very interesting.”38 percent increase in the odds of feeling sad and hopeless, a 42 percent increase in considering suicide, a 58 percent increase in suicide attempts and a 23 percent increase in substance abuse.” Kids nowadays are so worried about grades and keeping up with their homework, they will stay up until 3:00 in the morning most nights and end up getting 3 hours of sleep before needing to wake up for school. Teenagers have emotional issues caused by relationships and friendships. If they are liked at school or if they get picked on and bullied. I hear everyday in the halls complaints about the start time or how tired they are, or I see kids falling asleep in classes not getting the education they need.

To make this less dramatic, teens need sleep too pass their classes. They need that extra 35 minutes. I  after senior Gabe Wheeler  if he believes less sleep harms the brain, he responds, “Yes, I do agree with that. But I also have to say that it could possibly damage teens physically. I believe that it has more to do with our growing bodies and that they need more sleep. For me, it’s difficult to get up so early because I live on a farm where I have to take care of the animals before I leave for school, so I have too get up at 4:30 every morning.” Well, there you have it. Every teen deserves to not struggle getting up in the morning. Why don’t we go ahead and make their lives easier and start school later. It’s the best thing for the teens and less frustration for the teachers who have to deal with the nagging of the students and the falling asleep in their classes.

Another thing that is a dilemma in this country is car wrecks. “16- and 17-year-old driver deaths increased 19 percent from 2011.” Parents are always worried too send their kids off in their brand new car on their first day with their license. They also set curfews and don’t allow their kids too be out so late cause it’s dark. Well, it is also very dark when you wake up so early in the morning. There has recently been a study between schools starting early and schools having a one hour delay. That one hour delayed start time had a 16.5% drop rate in teen car crashes.

An argument about an early start time isn’t just so kids can get an out and sleep in every morning, everyone does understand that in college the students barely get sleep because they party and they are studying. Although those college kids most likely don’t drive and they also have matured since high school. When you are at the ages of 16, 17 and 18, you are not as mature as you are when you are 20, 22 and 22.  Protecting the students should be the #1 aspect for the district. The schools do protect the students by having drills and walkthroughs on what to do in case of emergencies, but they aren’t protecting the students in a mental way. You can’t expect a student who doesn’t get enough sleep to come to school and be excited or even ready to learn every day.

In general, sleep shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be given like an award. Students do so much to keep up in this world and a lot of them struggle. Giving them more sleep will give them a stronger ability to pay attention and be alert during school. They wouldn’t want to go home and take naps, eat food or just hate school so much they are in a rush too leave. They would stop drinking coffee in the mornings and they will start soaking in the information you feed them throughout the day.