It was 6:30 AM on a Monday morning. I awoke to obnoxiously loud beeping from my alarm clock. It was still dark out so sleeping a bit longer couldn’t hurt. I must have unconsciously put the alarm on snooze because I fell right back to sleep. I awake again to the same beeping. Leaning over to look up at the clock, I noticed it was 7:30AM. I’m late for class again… I pound on the wall nearest to my bed. My little brother is in the next room over so this is how I can wake him up using the least effort. I drag myself out of bed and into the shower. Once freshened up, I got to my kitchen to make myself a lunch for the day. Next I had to wake up my older brother to ask for a ride. Now, I would just walk but I live in Lynnwood so getting to school can sometimes be difficult. It took 10 minutes for my older brother to get dressed and grab his keys. We left the house around 8:10AM.
I get to school at 8:30 to start the day off in Creative Writing. Another guy comes to class a bit later. I’m not the only person that has trouble getting to school each day by 7:50. I know plenty of people who are late to their first or second period because they slept in, couldn’t get a ride that early, or didn’t even wake up. I have missed my morning periods on many different occasions for the same reasons. I would guess that at least one third of the school’s students don’t fall asleep until at least midnight or later. That only leaves 7 hours or less to sleep during the week. Now if school were to start just one hour later, I would guarantee students’ attendance would be much better. The difference between 7 and 8 AM can make the difference between good and bad attendance. Plus, when I miss those morning classes, I then have to catch up on the work that I missed which can be hard when you have no idea what needs to be done. Throughout my high school career this has been an issue for me
I understand that some students may have work after school but one hour later couldn’t do much harm. And other then that, I can’t think of any other downfall to having school start later. Having school later could result in student having a better outlook on the day. They would be more positive and contribute more to the lessons being taught.
Whereas now, those students who aren’t “morning people” would fall asleep in class or feel drowsy for half the day. It is not uncommon for me to doze off or fall asleep during my first or second period. Just the other day I was in my auto tech class listening to my teacher talking. I ate some of my gummy bears hoping that since my jaw was constantly moving, I would be able to stay awake. It seemed the harder I tried, the sleepier I became. He just kept rambling on about what professional bike racers and the techniques they used while turning around sharp corners. I wished so badly that I could just put him on mute or something. Eventually, I just put my hood as far over my head as I could, crossed my arms, and put my head right in the middle to block out any light. I am clearly not a morning person and if the school day were just to start an hour later, I would be much more engaged throughout the day.
Having school start up later would result in students being more attentive in class. Getting up at 7 in the morning every day makes my body depleted. By Wednesday or Thursday my body is running on reserve energy. I’m only getting a maximum of like 8 hours, and that’s rare. Sleep is part of the issue but just having to get up at 7AM every morning just makes me drowsy. Back in elementary school, class didn’t start until 9:10AM. I would wake up a bit before school would start, and by the time I got to school I would be wide-awake and ready to learn. During my freshman and junior year, the WASL weeks were the best as far as school went. Classes were shorter and most importantly, I didn’t have to wake up until 9ish. I’d go to class refreshed and ready to learn. I remember it was my “unit 8” math test in my math class. During a WASL day, we spent the whole class taking the test. I was sitting straight up, focusing on each problem as it presented itself. I had a little bit of trouble graphing this one parabola because it had two negative integers, but I figured it out by taking the problem one step at a time as I did through the whole test. I finally finished right before the bell rang. I found out the next day that I ended up getting a solid B (a B on a math test is pretty good for me). I went through the test like a lion ripping the limbs off a zebra, answering the questions without second guessing myself. It seems that a wide variety of students can hardly get up in the morning, and to get up for school makes it even harder. School is meant to teach and prep yourself for the outside world and by making it start early, it becomes much more difficult to excel through high school.
