Every day, I have to wake up between 6 and 6:30 a.m. to get to school by 7:30 a.m. Between after school activities and homework, I usually don’t get to bed until 10 p.m.

As a result, I am always tired.

I believe that school should start later, so we won’t be as tired the next day. According to scientific research, teenagers’ brains want to go to bed late and wake up late.

Teens need just over nine hours of sleep; they are rarely getting this much due to excessive homework. Parents are pushing children to get good grades; therefore, they are forced to do a lot of homework each night. This causes kids to stay up later than they should and then have to wake up early in the morning.

Afterschool activities such as sports, school organizations, etc. are getting in the way of our homework. Kids are encouraged to stay active to be healthy in body and mind. By having classes start later in the day kids could make up that time sleeping in the morning.

When middle-schoolers don’t get enough sleep, they start to lose creativity and their memories will start to decrease. This is causing their grades to plummet, and is causing them to get less homework done due to forgetting to bring it home.

If school starts later, teens will be more focused and less tired so that they can keep their grades up.

Ryan Lafean


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