School should start an hour later and be only 6 hours long. Seven hours of sitting and learning is a lot—students would be more awake and engaged all day if school was an hour shorter. It’s hard to get up at six in the morning, be ready to hop on the bus by 6:50 am, and be at the school as early as 7 o’clock. By fourth period, you’re exhausted. You can’t fully engage during the period because you’re tired and just spend the whole time watching the clock.

With a six-hour day, students would have more time to rest or do more work outside of school, and they could get more done and not be as stressed out. School that starts earlier may give students more time for activities after school, but students need at least 9.5-10 hours of sleep. When we’re not getting enough rest, sleep deprivation can harm our health. This can also lead to students sleeping in class because they’re not getting enough sleep at night and their body wants more. I think school should start later so students can get more sleep and can be more awake in class so they can focus more.

Studies show that more than 87% of US high school students get less than 8-10 hours of sleep each night, which could cause them to develop bad grades because the lack of concentration in class. Schools should allow students the opportunity to sleep at least another hour, in order to succeed more in school.