Should high school start at 9 a.m.?

YES
Karl Dreyer is in his fourth year teaching science at Central High School in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He is working toward his doctorate in curriculum and instruction at Northern Illinois University.

Should high school start at 9 a.m.? When I first saw this question, I imagined a giant hand tucking me back into bed and my alarm resetting itself. I gave the question more thought, especially during those precious moments of sleep after hitting the snooze button.

I asked my first period class, "Should school start later?" The students were so groggy, all they could muster was a whiny, "It's first period," or the classic, "It's Monday" (even though I asked them on Tuesday). When I asked the same question to another class later in the day, I was met with a roar of responses. They loved the idea of later start times.

The students in the morning class, which starts at 7:25 a.m., are visibly tired. As a whole, our student body is incredibly unhealthy because of lack of sleep.

In Minneapolis, high schools are experimenting with a start time more than an hour later than before, beginning around 8:40. Results show most kids are getting an extra hour of sleep, and grades and attendance are improving.

One obstacle to later high school start times is bus coordination. But many high school students drive to school or are driven. Even in my freshman class, only two ride the bus, and one only rides it as punishment when she gets low grades.

If we want an efficient bus schedule, who says elementary and high schools have to start at different times? I can see some parents being upset about their first grader riding the bus with twelfth graders (Barney meets The Osbournes). But it could lead to a positive mentoring relationship between the younger and older bus riders. And in my district, in suburban Chicago, there are enough buses, and schools are close enough to each other, that older and younger students could ride together without a budget increase to pay for it.

Who is school really for? Are we as educators trying to cater to our own schedule preferences or to our students' need for more sleep?

The purpose of school is student learning. Students learn better when they are fully awake and their brains are active. That doesn't happen at 7:30 or 8 a.m.

Voting Results

NO
Mary Kay Ackermann is a ninth-year English and language arts teacher at North-Linn High School in Troy Mills, Iowa. She is currently president of the North-Linn Education Association.

It doesn't take a doctor to figure out that the same remedy does not work for everyone. Patients with the same symptoms may need different medicines. Similarly, each school district is different. To say that every high school should have a late start time would be like prescribing aspirin for every pain.

In our district, where all middle and high school children are bused except those who drive themselves, there would be a busing nightmare if some had different start and end times. Our budget has limited resources for bus service, so uniform middle and high school start times are vital. Other districts have other needs. My point is, changing bus schedules can be expensive. Granted, some students can drive themselves. But I have yet to meet a freshman who has a driver's license.

There are other reasons to keep an early start for high school. We want kids to be in class more, not less. Early release for sports activities already has track, golf, and cross-country athletes leaving before the end of the school day for afternoon meets. Later start times would mean they would miss more class time at the end of the day. It is difficult enough to keep students on board who have to miss one or two class periods at least once a week during their sports seasons.

Another issue: I know we are here for the kids, but what about the teachers? High school students need to sleep later. Adults do not. But they work full-time jobs and tire more as the day goes on than do students. It is a tough trade-off. If we start the school day earlier for the benefit of high school kids, we could have less efficient teachers at the end of the day. There are more students than teachers, but each teacher impacts many students. My students are more engaged in the morning--possibly because I am more engaging in the morning.

There are advantages to starting later, but there are also disadvantages. Parents juggle daycare, jobs, and school schedules every day. Let's ask for their suggestions, weigh everyone's needs, and tailor a solution to the unique circumstances of each community.

Voting Results

75% = Yes 25% = No Votes have been collected for printing. The last vote has been accepted.