I love your proposed solutions. I think we also need decrease the number of guns sold illegally, especially across state lines (ie: Indiana has more lax gun laws than Illinois, which is why many Chicagoans who want guns via illegal means simply drive an hour to purchase a gun).

Hello Maggie,

I think your thoughts and the arguments you used to discuss this topic are very important. The question of whether or not school start times should be delayed is a very up-and-coming issue as more and more students begin to talk about the lack of sleep they are getting, and how miserable it is to have to wake up early in the morning. You refer to an article where the author “relays that every child’s circumstances are different and that some may have work and athletics after school, whereas others do not. He also believes that children using technology is the biggest reason for sleep deprivation and that delaying school times will not fix that issue.” I think this is a very important thing to consider when deciding if school start times should be changed. If the start time is delayed, many people’s schedules would need to be altered, including students and parents of students. I agree that technology is one of the big reasons why students are not getting a lot of sleep, and I also think that work load is another reason. Do you think that work load or homework plays a role in lack of sleep? After reading your post, I found an article that highlights some other points on why it would be difficult to change the start time of schools: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/eight-major-obstacles-delaying-school-start-times. Before reading your article, I felt that starting school at a later time would be beneficial, but I now realize that changing the time would be a lot more difficult for many people. Upon starting high school, I felt that the start time was too early and I needed more sleep, but as the years go on and I am now a senior, I realize that starting school at a later time would affect the rest of my day and other people’s days as well. Your post was very informational and it made me look at things from another perspective, so I will definitely read another one of your posts!

-Kaitlyn

Hi Maggie!
I think that this topic is something that triggers an ongoing debate. School start times can be very debatable but I agree with you and your reasoning for keeping school starting earlier rather than later. You talk in your second paragraph about how if school started at a later time, it would conflict with kids’ after school activities and jobs. I agree with that, as I am also involved in sports and know how this could damage times and things. I also like the statistic you brought up about how “90 percent of teenagers use some sort of digital technology before they go to bed which tends to interfere with sleep.” This is also very detrimental, but not something the school can change. If a kid wants to stay up that late on their phone, then it is their fault how tired they are getting up early. Something that could be interesting to this debate is looking at studies done on the brain. I’ve heard people argue that school should start at a later time because our brain is apparently not fully awake until 10:00am. I have never checked that fact, but it might be an interesting factor into the viewpoints you are describing. I really enjoyed reading your posts and look forward to reading more of them!
-Ella