Dear Next President:

I would like you to address an issue relating to school, specifically the school hours. It is more beneficial for both the students and their school to start school at 10 A.M. and end at 4:00 P.M. in the afternoon. Since most students have extra curricular activities after school, such as clubs, sports, or tutoring, they have less time at home in the evening. Not only that, but they also have other priorities they have to fulfill outside of school. For example, they have to take care of their relatives, help parents with their business, and work a part-time job, which gives them even less time at home. Due to this short amount of time at home, the students tend to start their homework really late, which leads to them sleeping late. According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), the average hours of sleep a person must have is about 7 to 8 hours a day. Since most schools start at 7 or 8, and students are already going to sleep too late, they aren's able to get enough sleep. This then leads to their poor performance at school. As the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) asserted, “ A lack of sleep leads to inability to concentrate, impaired memory and physical performance abilities, and a reduced ability to carry out math calculations.”

As a senior at a top college prep charter school in San Diego, I can relate to this personally. We have more homework given to us compared to most schools, so I always have to stay up late to do it. Since I don’t have enough sleep, I’m always sleepy in class, and this makes my ability to learn and focus more difficult.

Furthermore, if a school starts early, the  school bus that picks up students leaves early, unfortunately, is on the road during the time people drive to work (of course, this only applies to schools that use buses). This means being stuck in traffic for a long time if students live far from school, which is the case for most students at my high school.  If a school starts later, the bus will be able to avoid “rush hour” and students will have more sleep, but will still have the same number of hours studying in school.

One solution to this is to start school later. For example,  I am not as sleepy in class on Fridays because every Friday, my school starts at 10:15 A.M. and ends at 4:00 P.M., instead of starting at 7:00 A.M. and ending at 2:00 as at most other schools in my city. Not only does this schedule give students more time to sleep, but it also makes the learning experience at school more effective.  By switching a school's starting hour from 7:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M., not only do students have more sleep time, they will also be more productive in school.

Sincerely,

Bao Luong