School Should Start Later

Dear Superintendent Marty,

            I believe that school should be started later because it would affect grades and possibly lives. Kids have recently adapted to later bedtimes and rise times, and with

school start times being early, this has a big effect on the kids. A survey shows out of about 1000 kids 90% of them say that under these circumstances, they feel groggy in the mornings. Grogginess has been said to have effects such as lack of attention, not pushing themselves to the most of their ability, and many others. Eventually these aspects will lower kid’s grades and have a big affect on their lives.

If school was to start later kids would get to sleep longer thus, removing things such as grogginess that play a big role in this problem. Some other benefits that could result in later school start times are things such as avoiding trouble, staying on task, displaying better moods, paying attention and so on. After these changes teachers will also see positive changes.

            There would also be more time in the morning which gives kids more of a chance to get their homework done. This brings me back to better grades as more homework would lead to more knowledge of certain topics and then better scores on quizzes and tests. Not only do the grades matter in this situation as the knowledge someone learns can help them later in life as well.

            I hear many teachers basing there agenda off of what we need to learn to be more successful in high school and in college. If school was to start later we could actually take in this knowledge and use it when we can.  Another complaint I hear very often is what we need to do to improve our test scores on the big ones such as MAP and SAT. Before we start each test the teacher always tells us the day before to get a good night sleep and eat a healthy breakfast. If we had time we could very well do that, but when we have to get up at seven in the morning it’s hard to get a good night sleep. Another thing kids have to rush around to get to their bus stop on time. They don’t have time to eat a healthy breakfast. A lot of kids don’t even have time to eat breakfast at all. If school were to start later we could get a good night sleep and when we wake up in the morning we could eat a breakfast that is good for us.

Think of it like this, if you change the start times to a later time kids will stay on task, get better test scores, and eventually get a better education. If all this happens it would benefit you as other people will see Parkway School District is a very good school district, thus giving you credit for the changes you made and the success that those changes help us achieve.           

These are the little things that will affect our learning and our education. Our education is very important and can and will affect the rest of our lives. So why don’t we take a step forward and help all these kids achieve a better education and help them set up the rest of their lives.

                                                                                                -Adam

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