In this paper I will be discussing, analyzing, and introducing the research I found on why school times should start later. Later school times mean positive benefits for students that will be vital to the future. In order to create a utopia there has to be a future of individuals that are at their healthiest point.

Perfection: Let’s make it happen

When a utopia is brought up, perfect colors, perfect grass, and perfect people are thought of. However, taking a deeper look into a utopia, finances, economics, and human rights also all play a part in creating a perfect world. When it comes to money given to citizens and the times that citizens work, the government seems to slack in those areas. Instead of the government arranging ways for people to be successful in life, the government has somehow found a way to make it harder for people to be successful. 

There are many ways that this society has pushed itself to becoming less and less of a utopia. Times that students wake up for school has been proven to have an effect on the way they learn. There is a significant amount of students that turn to bad habits just because they are sleep deprived and they are stressed from school. This is a problem because if a student has less sleep and turns to substance abuse, there are more and more people that will end up without a job and end up struggling in life. In an ideal society the times for school would be altered. Another way that the world could become more ideal is if the work hours for citizens was shorter. It has been proven that a shorter work week could motivate people to work more and more efficiently. The problem is that with the nine to five, five day work week that there are now unmotivated people to want to work. The way to get people motivated to actually want to work is if there is not as much work put on them. Making sure people have set leisure time and time to themselves is very vital. In my utopia people will have a later start to school which will benefit them to want to do more work as they grow in the future for jobs and other important things.

Later start to school

In order to get to school on time, the average student wakes up at around seven to seven forty. Early wake up causes students to have what is called “Morning brain”. Morning brain is the result of waking up for school at the time of seven in the morning. Seven is the average time the students wake up for school. According to Troxel, it is at around this time students are less likely to be alert with what is going on around them causing them to perform poorly on school assignments (Troxel, 2016). Having a later start to school Incorporates a better start to a students life. Sometimes the brain isn't functioning properly when schools start early in the morning. So it is shown that play school starts later in the day. The proper morning brain is out of the question. In a scholarly article, Dikker states that during the times that students awake for school causes more accidents and recklessness. Without proper sleep, there is a greater chance that the student will not pay attention while driving (Dikker, 2020).

In Figure 1 you will see that only 30% of crashes came from the students aged 16-19 when they woke up at a later time for school. This is a huge difference from 70%.

Even the small things when waking up from school later helps. According to Lemola, a two hour and a 20 minute delay for school still created a positive impact on the students' mindset for school. Instead of going into school angry the students felt more enthused to learn because their brain had time to actually wake up (Lemola, 2019). This school used the EEGLAB and other tools to measure how focused the students were. 

In Figure 2 you can see the later start time to school actually benefits the students stating to be an astonishing 20% more alert than the students that wake up at 7.

Happiness of students with later start times

When students get up early for school, there is no doubt there is some kind of negative thought that is running through their mind about school. If school starts later and they actually get their full nights rest, they will have more of a positive look at school than a negative one.

Physical Health

Waking up early for school also impacts the physical health of students. Bashant states that due to lack of sleep and sleep insufficiency, students are prone to develop very unhealthy habits. Looking at the students who wake up at 7 or earlier, they develop poor physical health such as obesity. Also, athletes that received less than eight hours of sleep were more likely to suffer a severe injury during the time of their performance (Bashant, 2017). It is not like it's a small number either, the students have a 80% chance of developing obesity due to early morning wake up. According to Overberg, when students wake up early for school, it disturbs their metabolism and their eating habits. The student's metabolism may not have been truly ready to eat and yet they have to force it because breakfast is vital to your learning (Overberg, 2022). It is so condraditiary for officials to say that students have to be up at a certain time and that breakfast is the most important meal of the day that is vital to their learning, yet they know most students' metabolism is not even ready for any type of intake. According to Barlow, this makes it really hard for students to stay focused which again affects the students' learning (Barlow, 2016). There is no way that the effects of waking up so early are so heavy and negative, and no one has done anything to fix it. Also, Hansen states that waking up early for school affects your overall mood, performance, and effort (Hansen, 2005). Students are dying and suffering everyday to get up early and turn their brain on in order to learn and be successful. Instead these students are developing diseases that can kill them instantly no questions. In my utopia the obesity rates will decrease because there is no way I can watch students be unhealthy and die knowing I can do something.

Effects on Labor

Students waking up early for school can cause them to have a negative mindset on their future as well. Things like working and getting a job affects how the child thinks as well. In order to change their mindset something has to change it. According to Hafner, people see the little changes in students such as improvement in academics and improvement in safety, however, students also improve in the way they work in the future. The labor time and labor work that students put in in the future increases dramatically (Hafner 2016). Students putting in better work because of the later school start times should push officials to want to make that change. Instead of a student going to work and putting in lousy hours, later school times could prevent that. 

Work Work and more Work

Implementing a seven day work week should also be put into place for a better outcome with work. According to Boxx, implementing a four day work week increases a person's drive to want to work. Not only does a person want to work more, they do a better job at it  (Boxx, 2017). The productivity of workers increases with a four day work week. Instead of the person having little to no time of leisure, a whole entire day more to themselves will have them looking forward to working the incoming week. 

Substance abuse

Due to sleep deprivation, students are more and more likely to abuse the use of drugs and alcohol causing them to risk their futures. According to Gordon, Substance abuse decreased by 70% when school times changed from 7:35 to 8:35 among the ages of sixteen through eighteen (Gordon, 2014). In order to create a perfect world the abuse of drugs and alcohol would not be tolerated. So, to stop some of this abuse from teenagers, school times should have about a one hour delay.

 But wait, There’s more!

Not only does a delay on school start time have a positive outcome with the students and their lives, later school times can also help boost the economy in the world today. It can cause many economic gains and really improve productivity. The more money made for the government is a win for everyone. Making sure that you are working full hours and you are gaining more and more time will allow you to stack vacation times as well. All this plays a part in the strength of the economy. Shorter school days will definitely amplify productivity at work and more money for the worker and the government. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, a shorter school day presents a multitude of benefits instead of a multitude of setbacks. It is shown through my research that a utopia is only reachable only if the future of the utopia is well, stable, and healthy. In order to accomplish this, shorter and or delayed school days should happen.

References

Wahlstrom, Kyla; Dretzke, Beverly; Gordon, Molly; Peterson, Kristin; Edwards, Katherine; Gdula, Julie. (2014). Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, hdl.handle.net/11299/162769.

Dikker, S., Wan, L., Davidesco, I., et al.  (2017). Brain-to-brain synchrony tracks real-world dynamic group interactions in the classroom. Current Biology, 27(9), 1375–80.

Overberg, J., Kalveram, L., Keller, T. et al. Interactions between nocturnal melatonin secretion, metabolism, and sleeping behavior in adolescents with obesity. Int J Obes 46, 1051–1058 (2022). doi.org/10.1038/s41366-022-01077-4

Group, A., Adolescence, C., Health, C., Au, R., Carskadon, M., Millman, R., . . . Young, T. (2014, September 01). School start times for adolescents. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-split/134/3/642/74175/School-Start-Times-for-Adolescents

Wendy Troxel why school should start later for T - cases.frsgym.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2022, from cases.frsgym.dk/ENG_B_APR_2019/files/171606_transcript_3.pdf

Das-Friebel, A., Gkiouleka, A., Grob, A., & Lemola, S. (2019, August 07). Effects of a 20 minutes delay in school start time on bed and wake up times, daytime tiredness, behavioral persistence, and positive attitude towards life in adolescents. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945719302655

CASDA article later start times for high schoolers - egcsd.org. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2022, from egcsd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CASDA-Article-Later-Start-Times-for-High-Schoolers.pdf

Hafner, M., Stepanek, M., & Troxel, W. (2017, October 10). The economic implications of later school start times in the United States. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352721817301754

Hansen, M., Janssen, I., Schiff, A., Zee, P., & Dubocovich, M. (2005, June 01). The impact of School Daily Schedule on adolescent sleep. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/115/6/1555/67418/The-Impact-of-School-Daily-Schedule-on-Adolescent?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Eugene J. Calvasina and W. Randy Boxx, Calvasina, E., University of Southern Mississippi Long Beach, Boxx, W., D., C., John., P., . . . Fottler, M. (2017, November 30). Efficiency of workerson the four-day workweek. Retrieved May 21, 2022, from journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/255689