Regarding the Start Time: No Change is Necessary

By Eshaan Patel

Is there any correlation between later school start times and an improvement in the performance of students in school? Is changing the start time truly necessary? On occasion, articles and studies are published to the internet stating that the start times of middle and high schools need to be changed. A common reason cited for this is that sleep deprivation is a serious "public health epidemic" for adolescents (Richter 6), however, it does not necessarily need to be this way. However, the cost of enacting these changes is tremendous, and the overall return is not that great. A change in school start times is not necessary for a variety of rationale, including that there is a stupendous amount of money that would have to be spent on making the change, and that the sleep deprivation epidemic, which many are using as a reason for changing the start time, can easily be circumvented using simple means without any change to the current system.

In order to begin, there is a tremendous monetary cost to moving the school start time, a move which produces few meaningful results. Whilst proponents of moving school start times argue that this move would increase student performance and reduce their sleepiness during school hours, studies have shown that a move of the school start time to a later time has no considerable effect on student performance nor on student daytime sleepiness. This is indicated by the study "Sleepmore in Seattle" licensed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in which the graph "Student Academic Performance" shows that the median of the students' grades only rose by 5 points. In fact, the statistical range of results was widened, and both the maximum and minimum results were lower after the change. "Sleepmore in Seattle" also includes another graph titled "Average Student Daytime Sleepiness", which utilizes a box plot to show how students scored on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, abbreviated as the ESS. A "0-3 point scale" is used to measure sleepiness in "eight different situations", with 3 representing a high likeliness of falling asleep and 1 representing a low likeliness of falling asleep. In the study, when the sum of these ratings was measured, the median of the results only dropped from a 7.0 to a 6.0 (Department of Biology, University of Washington et al.), which barely constitutes a difference. Even more, special education teacher Mark Thompson states that his students "[a]re no more awake or attentive" after the change (Huang 26). With such little effect on student performance, is there really a good reason why we need to spend such a colossal amount of money on changing the school start time?

In order to add more, sleep deprivation, which is what has often been cited as a reason to delay school start times, could easily be circumvented through rather simple means. According to SleepFoundation.org, one of the leading causes of insomnia, and as a result, deprivation, said to be a very large "problem" (Richter 5), is "screen time". In adolescents, sleep deprivation is said to be a very significant "problem" (Richter 5). It is stated that using screens for things such as "social media" or "engag[ement] in exciting content" can lead to a "boost [of] alertness and [can] impede sleepiness", and that "adolescents may [have increased] sensitiv[ity] to the effects of blue light", which is produced by screens. Effectively, this "deceives the body into thinking it is still daytime", which results in the shift of one's circadian rhythm (Pacheco and Vyas). Adolescents may use screens for up to "9 hours" per day ("Screen Time and Children"), and with teens using the devices at night, this could severely disrupt their circadian rhythm in such way that they sleep late and wake up late. This disruption to the circadian rhythm is precisely why many desire to make school start times later, and it can easily be solved by simply reducing screen time. Do we truly need to change school start times to stop sleep deprivation, especially considering the fact that it is possible to counter it through a simple reduction in adolescent screen time?

In conclusion, a change in school start times should not take place since it requires a phenomenal amount of money to happen, and that the epidemic of sleep deprivation is easily evadable. It has been proven that changing the start times does not produce that significant of an impact on student performance. Screen time is proven to be a leading cause of sleep deprivation, so if adolescents simply had a reduction in their screen time, the "sleep deprivation epidemic" could be solved altogether. There is very little correlation between later school start times and increased student performance. All in all, there is no valid reason for schools to change their start times, and therefore, it is an absolute necessity that they remain the same.

Works Cited

Aacap. Screen Time and Children. www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-Watching-TV-054.aspx.

Department of Biology, University of Washington, et al. “Sleepmore in Seattle: Later School Start Times Are Associated With More Sleep and Better Performance in High School Students.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, 12 Dec. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6291308. Accessed 15 Dec. 2023.

Huang, Cindy. “Fairfax, Montgomery Officials to Share Experience Delaying School Start Times.”

Pacheco, Danielle, and Nilong Vyas. “Screen Time and Insomnia: What It Means for Teens.” Sleep Foundation, 14 Mar. 2023, www.sleepfoundation.org/teens-and-sleep/screen-time-and-insomnia-for-teens. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.

Richter, Ruthann. “Among Teens, Sleep Deprivation an Epidemic.” Stanford Medicine News Center.