Haley Dallas

Features Editor

   Alarm sounds at 5:50. At 5:50:04, you are up and showering, then picking out your outfit, before indulging in a leisurely breakfast, right?  You kiss mom goodbye and take a Sunday drive to school, right?  When the bell rings promptly at 7:30, you are ready for instruction to begin, right?     For most high school students the answer to all these questions is a resounding, emphatic “No.”

    In fact, multiple studies suggest teen-age students will not respond well to an early start at school.” In an article published by the National Sleep Foundation, the author claims, “The roots of the problem include poor teen sleep habits that do not allow for enough hours of quality sleep; hectic schedules with after school activities and jobs, homework hours and family obligations; and a clash between societal demands, such as early school start times, and biological changes that put most teens on a later sleep-wake clock. As a result, when it is time to wake up for school, the adolescent’s body says it is still the middle of the night, and he or she has had too little sleep to feel rested and alert.”

    In Psychology Today, a study went so far as to suggest an appropriate start time for high school students would be after eight in the morning. In that study, John Cline, Ph.D states, “Changes made in school start times in several locations in Minnesota in the 1990's showed early positive results. Keeping the length of the school day the same but changing the start of the school day from 7:15 am to 8:40 am or from 7:25 am to 8:30 am resulted in improved functioning for both urban and suburban students. Urban students had better attendance, decreased tardiness and fewer visits to the school nurse. Suburban students tended to keep their regular bed times and so added about an hour of sleep per night and were able to get more homework done during the day because of increased alertness and efficiency.” Who am I to argue with the good doctor?

    Junior Ashton Farmer certainly doesn’t.  She believes a later start time would be helpful to students who participate in activities that end late at night. She thinks it would give them more time to sleep and therefore they would be more rested and alert at school.

    While other decisions are being made regarding the new McCracken County High School, hopefully a later start time will be agreed upon.  Not only would the students be opened to a whole new world with all the new classes and extracurriculars that come with the new school, but they would also be more awake and alert so they might take greater advantage of that whole new world.