Late is Great

When I look around my first period class through my own droopy, half closed eyes, I see about ten other kids slouched in their desk struggling to keep their eyes open. Their mouths are gaping and their eyes are glazed over when they are even open. Many kids, running on no breakfast and way less sleep than they should have gotten, sit like zombies in their seats, mindlessly copying down the notes on the board trying their best to look like they are alive.

While many people start their days much earlier, the school’s final 8 AM bell is too early, and is arguably unhealthy and inefficient.

As I stare at all of the tired kids in first and second period, I wonder why we are even here. Most of us definitely don’t want to there. I feel like I am not reaching too far either when I say that all of these kids would rather be in bed.

If kids weren’t tired and wishing they were somewhere else, wouldn’t school be so much more enjoyable and wouldn’t the time of students and teachers be used much more effectively? If both student’s and teachers were able to get more sleep and start their day just an hour later, they would be much more awake and able to be active participants in class.

Teenagers who have more sleep are healthier. They are less likely to drop out, be obese, have depression, and be tardy.

With all of these new initiatives, such as the new lunch menu, concerning healthier lifestyles, wouldn’t it makes sense that OPRF went all the way by making school later?

There are concerns with starting school later because of after school activities. It would only be an hour later, and if our school and several other schools in the conference all made the change to start later, practices and games after school wouldn’t be an issue, especially if in return it meant that school could be more enjoyable for everybody.