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Students, teachers disagree with starting school day later

Sep 19, 2017 | 4:03 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Research from around the world is showing there could be benefits to starting school later in the day.

It shows teens aren’t getting enough sleep and it’s impacting their ability to learn.

But not everyone agrees that a later start time would make it easier on students.

“I think if we looked at education in isolation, then a later start time probably would benefit a lot of students, based on what the research suggests,” said Sheldon Regier, a social studies teacher at Medicine Hat High School.

It’s an idea that might sounds appealing to students, but there are some downfalls.

“Well, the first thing that comes to mind is like, yeah, get to sleep in,” said grade 12 student Zarah Willis. “As a person who likes to sleep in, I have a hard time getting up in the morning as it is with school times starting at nine. I feel like it’d be harder to get out of bed if it’s 10.”

A later start time would also mean a later end time, pushing back any extra curricular activities.

“With cross country after school, it goes ‘til 6 o’clock, and if school ended later, then that means practice would go later, and I wouldn’t have time to come home, settle down, talk to my family and stuff,” Willis added.

“[Volleyball] practise usually ends around six. By the time we get everything put away and stuff, I’m usually home at about 6:30, 6:40 and then I usually try to eat something,” said Rhiannon Ware, another grade 12 student.

Once she’s had dinner, she starts working on her homework. By the time she’s ready for bed, she said it’s after 11.

If she’s lucky, she’ll have a full eight hours before her alarm goes off the next morning.

“I’ll usually get up about 7:30 at least, to get my morning going, get my body going before I have class at nine,” she added.

Research shows the later start times would have both health and academic benefits.

But Regier disagrees.

He’s been teaching for 25 years and said his students are more alert in the mornings.

“Sometimes that first period in the afternoon can be that time of day when you are more lethargic,” he said. “And the last period of the day, when they’ve been at school for a few hours already and have gone through a lot of activities, that can be a challenging time for some students as well.”

Regier also understands how important those hours after school can be for students and said an earlier start time would give them more time to focus on any extra curricular activities and part-time jobs.

“There’s more to their lives, some of them need to have jobs to supplement income, lots of them have after school activities and so we need to find a time that can accommodate all the aspects of students lives,” he said.

Willis and Ware agree that if mornings are ever an issue, a coffee, or two, usually does the trick.