The right amount of sleep is necessary for every human being, especially high school teenagers, yet most teenagers are not getting the right amount of sleep. Instead, they are staying up doing homework, and then the students have to wake up early for school the next morning. Students are expected to get to school before eight o’clock in the morning and not leave until shortly after three o’clock in the afternoon. That is if the student does not participate in any extracurricular activities. Many students are involved in extracurricular activities which require them to be at school early or stay late, which leaves them less time to get good sleep. Once they get home from school, they have to eat, shower, and do their homework. Sometimes homework can take hours, but students have to finish it, so they can do well in school. From personal experience, being on the school volleyball team requires staying at school every day until six o’clock at night, but when we have games, we sometimes do not get back to school until nine o’clock at night. This means that I still have to do homework, shower, and eat before I can go to sleep. This takes a toll on me both physically and mentally because I am so tired, but I become so stressed thinking about all the things I have to do before I am able to go to sleep. Throughout the school day, many students are not fully awake and alert because they did not get enough sleep. Not being awake and alert in class is very frustrating to the teacher and student because the teacher feels like the student is not paying attention, and the student is missing the information he or she needs in order to succeed in his or her class. Not paying attention in class may cause a student’s grades to drop, which may possibly affect his or her future. I know from personal experience what it feels like to be in class but not fully attentive because I am so tired, since I was staying up late doing homework. It takes a toll on me and my body. When I do not get enough sleep, I feel sluggish throughout the day, and I do not have the energy needed to play volleyball to the best of my ability. Altogether, not getting enough sleep has many side effects on the student and his or her health.

The solution to helping students get enough sleep is pushing the starting time of school back. Pushing back the starting time of school is not hard to do. Most elementary schools start later than high schools, but really, high schools should start later because it is harder for teenagers than little kids to wake up early. Also, little kids do not need as much sleep as teenagers do because they have an abundance of energy. Some parents may oppose this switch because they are worried about getting their kids to school on time, but they should not be because if they had a child in elementary school, they would still have to get them to school. Once their child turns sixteen he or she will be able to bring themselves to school, or one of his or her friends will be able to bring him or her to school. Also, many schools have a bus system, and times buses arrive is very easy to push back, so that is not a concern. Although inconvenience may be a reason people would oppose pushing the starting time of high school back, switching the starting times of elementary school and high school is an easy solution to this problem.

Pushing the starting time of high school back improves the current situation in many ways including an increase in health and concentration. Pushing back the starting time of school would benefit students in many ways mentally and physically. If the start time of school is pushed back, students would get more sleep, which would help them to stay awake and alert throughout the school day. Being alert and awake in class benefits the student and the teacher, so there are less issues within the class. Physically, one’s body needs the right amount of sleep to function properly, so pushing the start time of school back would help to increase the student’s health because it would allow for the body to function the way it should. Pushing the starting time of high school back would be advantageous for everyone in involved.