graham
asks:
Q:
Why do schools start so early in the morning?
In the US the schools on the whole seem to start very early in the morning- why is that? Is it to get out in time to tend to the herd, or other farming related hangovers?
On a similar note, have there been any studies to determine what is the optimal time schools should start to maximize the students concentration and comprehension? For high schools at least, I would guess that its not at 7:30am.
In Topics:
Public School, State education standards, Sleep and rest
On a similar note, have there been any studies to determine what is the optimal time schools should start to maximize the students concentration and comprehension? For high schools at least, I would guess that its not at 7:30am.
> 60 days ago
What the Expert Says:
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Additional Answers (4)
Hi there - You make a good point. I don't know of any formal studies on the subject but from my experience young children tend to wake up very early in the morning. But the older you get the harder it seems to wake up so maybe there should be adjustments for this in high school etc :)
> 60 days ago
Hi Graham,
We shared your question on Twitter (@JustAskEdu), and received a couple responses tweeted from LaToniya A Jones at Powertheyouth.org (on Twitter @powerorgmath)...
"I'm thinking rationale is to accommodate parents' schedules since most children are not alert & several are hungry...I'm an advocate of late start school days. Better academic success rates for middle school classes that are after 9am."
We'll let you know if there are any other additional responses via Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for asking!
We shared your question on Twitter (@JustAskEdu), and received a couple responses tweeted from LaToniya A Jones at Powertheyouth.org (on Twitter @powerorgmath)...
"I'm thinking rationale is to accommodate parents' schedules since most children are not alert & several are hungry...I'm an advocate of late start school days. Better academic success rates for middle school classes that are after 9am."
We'll let you know if there are any other additional responses via Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for asking!
> 60 days ago
One of the reason's is: most students at high school work afternoon, to get out from school early, will give them the time to do both study and work, i think if the schools start late and finish late we will have a lot of drop out students.
> 60 days ago
This question has two components: 1) Where did anyone get the idea that it was acceptable to start school before sunrise?, and 2) Why don’t we start schools later now that there’s compelling evidence that starting so early is counterproductive and dangerous? (See schoolstarttime.org for the latest on this research).
The answer to #1 in many school systems has to do with transportation: A few decades back, when school starting busing most kids to school, triple bus runs turned out to be most cost-efficient. The result was that many high schools, even those that had begun after 8:30 until then, began starting in the 7 o’clock hour so no one got out too late. The answer to #2 is more complicated and has to do with politics, money, and human nature (we tend to make a virtue of necessity, and once school hours shifted, entire communities adapted accordingly; now people can’t imagine life any differently and will fight fiercely to protect the status quo). Making matters worse is the American characterization of “sleep” as a luxury (“early to bed, early to rise”) so that efforts to push school hours back are often met with derision.
Collective action on a national scale appears to be the only hope for establishing evidence-based school hours set to prioritize learning, safety, health, and equity. The good news is that local groups are starting to come together to make this happen, even petitioning for a minimum school start time of 8 a.m. (http://bit.ly/tWa4dS). For more information, see StartSchoolLater.net.
The answer to #1 in many school systems has to do with transportation: A few decades back, when school starting busing most kids to school, triple bus runs turned out to be most cost-efficient. The result was that many high schools, even those that had begun after 8:30 until then, began starting in the 7 o’clock hour so no one got out too late. The answer to #2 is more complicated and has to do with politics, money, and human nature (we tend to make a virtue of necessity, and once school hours shifted, entire communities adapted accordingly; now people can’t imagine life any differently and will fight fiercely to protect the status quo). Making matters worse is the American characterization of “sleep” as a luxury (“early to bed, early to rise”) so that efforts to push school hours back are often met with derision.
Collective action on a national scale appears to be the only hope for establishing evidence-based school hours set to prioritize learning, safety, health, and equity. The good news is that local groups are starting to come together to make this happen, even petitioning for a minimum school start time of 8 a.m. (http://bit.ly/tWa4dS). For more information, see StartSchoolLater.net.
> 60 days ago
