Many students fantasize about having a schedule that allows them a full eight hours of sleep. For students who wake up between 6:00-7:00 a.m., mornings can be painful. Students naturally turn to Staples’ early start time for blame; however, pushing back school start times would only further complicate the schedules of parents and teachers, forcing students to stay up later.

With an early start time comes an early release time, and students often overlook the benefits of ending school at 2:15. If students were to be released at 2:45 or 3:00 p.m., extra curricular activities would end later. For those who participate in clubs and sports after school, practice and meetings can run late into the evening. 

Some students can get home as late as 9:00 p.m., and a later start time, although it appears beneficial, is only shifting students’ schedules later. Rather than creating more time for students to sleep, the later start time will be counteracted by the extracurriculars that end later. 

The extra time students currently get in the afternoon creates an opportunity to be productive outside of school. For the students who have a part time job or participate in volunteer work, the extra time after school can be utilized.

If the school start time were to be shifted a half hour later, students would get a delayed start on their homework. Many students enrolled in AP and honors classes receive several hours of homework a night, and although later start times would allow them to wake up later, they would ultimately end up going to bed later as well. Most students do not choose to be sleep deprived, but rather stay up because of their responsibilities. 

Later release times such as 2:45 or 3:00 p.m. would also keep teachers at school later. When the school day is extended longer into the afternoon, teachers and students are required to stay later for extracurriculars or other after school activities. 

Later start times would only shift students’ schedules later, causing them to go to bed later and have less afternoon time to be productive. Nothing positive would result from changing the start times, and students would still be trapped in the cycle of sleep deprivation and overworking they are currently trying to escape.