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Dear Future President,

Teens are getting less and less sleep as they advance through school. As they get older, school start times continue to get earlier. The fact is that school start times need to be delayed for a variety of reasons.

According to researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical school, and the University of Nevada, Reno, “students could improve their learning and have fewer health problems if schools accommodated the unique circadian rhythms of young people.”They state that people believe kids do not get enough sleep because they go to bed too late, but really our circadian rhythms are interrupted by early start times. Also, they found that at age 16, biological wake time is around eight o’ clock.

In addition, students learning, behavior, and even physical aspects are disrupted. As reported by the CDC, “adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight, not engage in daily physical activity, suffer from depressive symptoms, engage in unhealthy behaviors, and perform poorly in school.” So, because our circadian rhythms are disrupted, and teens engage in school too early, performance lacks, so what is the point of getting up so early if it does not benefit anyone in any way. This brings me to my next point.

Most school administration believes that by starting schools earlier, the school will save money on transportation, and other student-improvement based technology. Well, as Finley Edwards, a professor in Economics at Baylor, says “ using a three-tiered bus system saved roughly $100 million in transportation costs.” Basically a three-tiered bus system means three different pick-up times for each level. One elementary, middle and high school. Which, in elementary students, their biological wake time is around 6:30 and it is suggested that they start at 8:30, receiving the early transport tier.

So, Future President, the ways you can solve this problem would be for high school start times to be pushed to 10:00, college to 11:00, middle school to 9:00, and elementary to 8:30. On top of that, create multi-tiered transportation systems to save costs, providing a benefit to administration. Again, with the late start times, average school performance would increase, increasing school funding, another plus for administration.

Overall, Future President, there are many benefits to the delay of start times. The question is, what is the influence you are willing to put on the future of America? You have the power to change the fate of America’s children, what are you going to do about it?

Sincerely, Brendon