The Early Bird Gets an F
Each year, the Department of Literature, Languages, Cultures, and Writing asks the professors teaching ENG 102 Critical Reading to submit the best student essays from their classes for consideration for the James Strickland Writing Award. Below is one of the selections that won an honorable mention for 2023.
by Madison Barr
It is no secret that students hate waking up early to go to school. As they get older, it only becomes more difficult. Every day, these students reluctantly drag themselves out of bed and try their best to make it through the morning. One has to ask, could these early morning wake-up times hurt more than attitudes? The fact is, waking up for school ends sleep cycles prematurely, making it significantly harder for students to successfully make it through the school day. Over the last few decades, it has generated an ongoing issue that many researchers have dived into. One study, published in 2020, analyzed the neurological impact of school start times. Before discussing their findings, the authors prompt, “researchers, parents and educators consistently observe a stark mismatch between biologically preferred and socially imposed sleep–wake hours in adolescents, fueling debate about high school start times” (Dikker et al). While it is common to think of school as something strictly beneficial, research argues otherwise. It is evident that several aspects of the school environment can cause harmful effects, namely the early start times, which negatively impact the cognitive growth of students.
To fully understand the impact early-morning wake up calls have on adolescents, it is important to first understand how much sleep they actually need. There are varying answers to that commonly asked question, with the average answer being about eight hours. In reality, people, especially adolescents, need much more than that. This was explored by a group of professors from Ghent University in their focus group study entitled, “Psychosocial factors related to sleep in adolescents and their willingness to participate in the development of a healthy sleep intervention.” A hired interviewer sat down with students of various ages and asked them questions about sleep, both broad and personal. When publishing their results in 2022, the authors first expressed, “the optimal amount of sleep in adolescence is ten hours per night,” but “a meta-analysis of 41 international surveys estimated that 53% of adolescents reported a sleep duration of less than eight hours” (Vandendriessche, et al). Over half of adolescents getting an insufficient amount of sleep produces a staggering number. That serves as a clear sign that there is something increasingly wrong.
Recognizing that students are not sleeping enough, one can then dive into the reasons behind the lack of adequate sleep. There are many factors that play into it, such as smartphones and streaming platforms, like Netflix. However, early school start times are one of the biggest factors at play in cutting sleep time too short. The majority of public schools in the United States currently have a start time before 8:00 am, meaning that everyone has to be up, ready, and in the classroom at 8:00 in the morning. Then if the average teenager, for example, goes to bed around 11:00 pm and takes around an hour to get ready for the day, they’re facing roughly eight hours of sleep. In February of 2022, a team of psychologists, neuroscientists, and professors from the Medical Institute of Psychology published their four-year-long study examining any existing correlation between early school starts and grades. Together, they analyzed the academic performance of nearly two hundred student participants in relation to varying class times. This topic sparked their interest when they observed that “early school start times cut teenagers’ sleep artificially short in the morning, forcing them to get up before they reach healthy amounts of 8–10 h of night-time sleep on schooldays. On weekends, teenagers sleep not only longer but also later which better suits their delayed circadian clock” (Biller, et al). The circadian clock they reference is a cycle of mental, physical, and behavioral patterns that exist in a 24-hour period. It influences hormone release, body temperature, eating and digestive habits, and many other bodily functions. The effects of these circadian rhythms are most noticeable in sleep schedules. When the rhythm is aligned properly, it promotes consistent and beneficial sleep. When it’s thrown off, it can create significant sleeping problems, such as insomnia. Forcing students to wake up too early is arguably one of the biggest barriers to reaching a sufficient amount of rest.
Requiring students to wake up before their bodies are ready means academic performance may suffer the consequences. In classes that take place earlier in the day, students’ minds are not fully awake. Therefore, their minds aren’t fully functional. This gives a heavy disadvantage to the kids that take certain classes in the morning, versus ones that take the same class in the afternoon, as proven in the 2020 article “Morning Brain: Real-World Neural Evidence That High School Class Times Matter.” This study monitored and observed brain activity of high schoolers sitting through the same class at differing times. The findings from the study demonstrate “class time is reflected in adolescents’ brain state and suggest that mid-morning may be the best time to learn” (Dikker, et al). Student participants placed in the later classes were able to remain more focused and engaged during the class period, as well as receive higher scores on the follow-up quiz. The participants placed in the earlier session were forced to face the consequences of an early class and it was apparent in their results. This study is reflective of reality. Its results are revealing of the level of unfairness involved in early versus later class sessions. Those required to attend class earlier than their body and mind are prepared for have to deal with the unfair and negative outcomes.
All of the evidence overwhelmingly agrees that school start times have a negative effect on students’ cognitive growth, presenting a new question. It is easy to grasp that early classes have a negative impact on students, as the argument has been made by students, parents, teachers, professors, psychologists, and even neuroscientists. So with all of this defense, why do schools remain starting so early? For this question, there isn’t a clear answer. School schedules can be developed around work schedules and bus schedules, and often take after-school activities into consideration. The current schedule system has worked well, but there is so much room for improvement. There are many possible solutions to this predicament. The argument could be made that the best and most immediate solution is all students simply going to bed earlier. Some would try to turn this into a simple argument about students avoiding other distractions at night. But time has proven this is an issue that adolescents cannot solve on their own. Facing the deterioration of sleep habits, there is a need for an intervention. They need an intervention from the people that are in charge of what affects them every day. Such a solution would be born out of schools prioritizing students and making a compromise. A good compromise would be not a later start time, necessarily, but a flexible one. In the four-year study previously mentioned, the authors heavily referenced a secondary school in Germany with flexible start times. The schedule begins with an optional first period that begins at 8:00 am. If students choose not to attend this optional “self-study period,” they would start their day almost an hour later at 8:50 am. The authors of the study observed that with more students taking the opportunity to start later in the morning, their overall quality of sleep and school performance was improving. The school in Germany serves as a potential blueprint that other schools can strive to be like. Taking even the smallest step in that direction is paramount in making a huge difference in the lives of students.
It is undeniable that the early start time of a school day negatively impacts the cognitive growth of students. Every source agrees and defends the notion that schools should start later. A later start time would improve students’ overall well-being and bring more functional minds to the classroom every day. This could ultimately generate powerful results impactful on the students’ futures and, quite frankly, be more in line with the goals of the administration. There would almost certainly be an instantaneous increase in overall academic performance, attitude and eventually, grades. Those responsible for the educational experience of students must take responsibility and approach the necessary steps to make a well-informed decision on school start times.
Works Cited
Biller, Anna M., et al. “A 4-Year Longitudinal Study Investigating the Relationship between
Flexible School Starts and Grades.” Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, Feb. 2022, pp. 1–
13. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy-sru.klnpa.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06804-5.
Dikker, Suzanne, et al. “Morning Brain: Real-World Neural Evidence That High School Class
Times Matter.” Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, vol. 15, no. 11, Nov.
2020, pp. 1193–202. EBSCOhost,
Vandendriessche, Ann, et al. “Psychosocial Factors Related to Sleep in Adolescents and Their
Willingness to Participate in the Development of a Healthy Sleep Intervention: A
Focus Group Study.” BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 1, Oct. 2022, pp. 1–11.
EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxy-sru.klnpa.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14278-3
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