At Gloversville High School, school starts at 7:45 am Monday through Friday. This means that students must get up at 7:00 at the latest and on average before 6:30. The question we have to ask ourselves is this really what's best for us?

 Pros

• Studies show that teenagers have a natural tendency to stay up late at night. This means that when we have to get up at 6:30am we only get around seven hours of sleep, while the hours of sleep recommended for teens is 8.5-9.5 hours.

·        If school started only a couple of hours later, then students would be more awake in class; more attentive and ready to learn. their grades and comprehension would improve. The workday of most parents starts later and ends later than the school day; it would make less of us have to walk to and from school if we started later.

•  Students would be more likely to show up to school on time.

Cons

• School would get out later, leaving less time for clubs and sports
•  There would be less time for us to complete our homework because we'd be getting out later
• In the winter, it would be almost sunset by the time we got home

Should school start later? The pros defiantly outweigh the cons. If we only pushed back the start of classes until 8:45, you would see a great difference in the attentiveness of students. Today, the first three or four periods of the day are difficult because students are fighting sleep deprivation.  Even though there wouldn't be as much time after school, we could be more awake for the activities we choose. Therefore, it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if school were to start later.