A question for anyone with kids in or about to go to high school.

[Serena]

What do you think about highschools starting out about 2 hours later in the day?
Our school system is proposing it and for the little I know, I think it's a good idea.

 

[jipsy]

What is the reasoning for that?

IMHO I don't agree. By the time kids enter high school, they need to start preparing for the real world. The majority of people work day jobs, of which the majority are 8-5. Moving school to 9 or 10 am only makes them have to stay at school longer (5 or 5:30) etc.; then they still have homework when they get home. If both parents are working, this will make it harder on the parents to get dinner done, and homework not to mention any after school activites the kid might be involved in. All parties involved will be staying up later, just making it harder on everyone to get up again in the morning. The kid might not have to be at school until 9 or 10, but the parents still have to be at work at 8 or so, meaning they are still doing the same job on less sleep. Teenagers tend to want to stay up late anyway, letting them off the hook of being responsible by getting up early for school only encourages them to stay up later. It's a vicious cycle and the parents will suffer.

Kids need to learn that the world does not conform to their whims and desires. Unfortunately, that's not what the lesson will be here.

Again, JMHO.

 

[nsyncraider17]

Actually, I would be thrilled if my school started at 8:00. My school starts at 7:20, which means I have to be there by about 7:15. And I drive, so I get up at 5:45 and leave a little before 7. When I rode the bus in ninth and part of tenth grade, I had to leave at 6:40. And if students need help in a class or something, some teachers will expect them to come to school by 7:00.

I agree that it would be wrong to have school start at 10 or something, but I don't see a problem with school from 8-3 rather than 7-2. I know that for me, an extra hour would make a huge difference.

 

[jsmith]

in theory its a good idea-in reality it buys the school district nothing. The theory is that teens need more sleep so having school start later (here the HS starts at 745, the elementarys at 825 and middle at 845-this is bucause of bus routes. elementary releases at 215, HS at 300 and middle at 345) would allow them more sleep. Unforunately all that will happen is that sports practices and extra curriculars will either have to move to mornings-negating the impact of a later start or will have to run later in the evenings, making the kids have to stay up later doing homework and again, negating any advantage. It will also damage the chances teens have of afterschool and evening jobs since later at school means later available to work and fewer hours due to legal curfews. I think they need to leave it alone.

 

[pw2pp]

If the reason for doing it is for Teenagers to get more sleep it is not going to work because they will still have Sports, Activities, and jobs so they will just go to bed later.

 

[wdwfam]

I think it would be great. Having one who graduated from h.s. last year, and one who started this year, I know from experience what it is like having a teen so tired from studying, late night sport events, band, jobs, etc. that starting a little later would be helpful. Yes, they have to prepare for the real world, but most people aren't burning the candles at both ends like teens do. There have been studies done on when high schoolers are at their best. They tend to do better later in the day. I'm not advocating evening classes, but a later start to their day would be nice. It has come up in our PTSA, but I doubt that it will happen anytime soon. 9:00 a.m. would be a good choice.

 

[Snowysmom]

It sounds like a good idea in theory but I agree that kids will just push back their bedtimes. The kids still have sports, clubs, work, homework, and other obligations. There are only so many hours in a day. They do need to learn about the real world. In college they may have 8:00 classes which means getting up early. If they opt to go to work out of high school, again, they will probably need to be up early to get to work.

 

[SoonerKate]

My high school started at 8:40 AM, had a block schedule with 4 classes a day, and let out at 3:50 PM. I'm definitely no worse for it. If anything, I was more awake in first hour than I ever would have been if class had started at 7:30 AM like some of my friends in different districts. Most after school activities were done by 5, except for things like play rehearsals which always ran until 7 or 8, no matter what. I remember staying until 10:30 or 11:00 PM some nights, especially right before a show opened.

Why worry about the time high school starts, and about kids conforming to society's schedules, when they're going to make their own schedules in college anyhow? I know plenty of people in college who choose to start their day at about 10:30. I'd rather learn to suck it up and get out of bed in college (which I've had to do; I had a 7:30 AM chem lab my freshman year.), where the classes and the times are your choice than in high school. Do parents really stay up until their 16-17-18-year-old kids go to bed? Mine never did!

 

[Lynn CC]

DS's HS is from 7-2...He would like to go in later, he doesn't like getting up so early especially when it's dark out!

 

[poohandwendy]

Bad idea, IMO. How about leave it up to parents to ensure their children get the proper amount of sleep? Does anyone really think kids would come to school refreshed and ready to learn if school started 2 hours later? That is naive at best...

 

[Pam]

It would be heavenly not to have to get up so early in the morning - but would stink to be in school until late day.... they should just shorten the school day...

 

[Rock'n Robin]

As a HS teacher I agree with the shorter school day...KIDDING!
Our school day goes from 7:55 to 2:25; it's almost the same in the district I live in as well. Extracurriculars would be a real concern here. And are they going to add busses or start the other kids earlier? Where we live they started the HS at 7:25 last year and the JH at 7:55--both schools share a bus run--they flip flopped it this year to give the older ones more time and lessen the "drop off" traffic jam at the JH, which means my DD#1 started at 9AM last year and this year has to go to the bus at 6:45!!! And HS kids who "have " to ride the bus (which mine will as long as I can swing it because the HS is on the other side of town) still have to be on the bus at that time; they just have a longer ride.
If the number of busses is a concern and there is no money for extra busses some other kids will be suffering.
And, IMHO, the kids who are sleepy early in the day need to learn to budget their time and quit their whining. Life does NOT revolve around these kids to the point where everyone else has to bend over backwards to make their lives easier. And my students will tell you I am saying this with a smile, but I mean it. I get to school at 7 AM after a 1/2 hour drive to run a study table for career and tech. students who are failing English and I do just fine.
Robin M.

 

[Kitty 34]

Our older kids actually go to school before the younger ones......it's a bus issue! My boys are involved in a lot of sports so I'm glad they get out early. As a sub. teacher, I am also glad to be done at 2:30 and 3:30 when I sub the lower grades.

 

[Serena]

Part of the issue is that the older kids will be getting out of school after the little ones, so there is less trouble.

 

[grinningghost]

Our district has been talking about this for years, but never done it. I was PRAYING they would do it, because I have a kid who does much better with a couple more hours of sleep. So far, nothing has changed.

 

[jvas]

At my daughter's HS, the kids go from 7.30 to 2.30...and only have 3 classes a day....but..the classes are 1hr 45mins long....they go to
the same subject classes every other day...(I.E. math on Mon, Wends, Friday, then English in the same week, on Tuesday, Thursday). This means they are getting more teaching time and less time is used taking roll, ect, by the teachers.

They also have tutorials for classes twice a week...depending
on which classes they need help on.

Seems to work very well.

 

[Sonya]

It's a GREAT idea. There was a study done on a school in Wisconson and they had great results. There were less kids absent, less discipline problems and better grades. Older kids do better later in the day and younger ones do better in the morning.