Each week, two readers discuss a hot topic in a parliamentary-style debate that doesn’t necessarily reflect their personal viewpoints.
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For: Valerie Chiu, 14, St Mary’s Canossian College
At school, students often struggle to stay awake, their energy levels depleted due to insufficient sleep the night before. This chronic lack of rest not only leads to yawning in class but also hampers their academic performance.
Students often have many extracurricular activities and assignments. Then, they have to wake up exceptionally early and do not have enough energy to concentrate and keep up with schoolwork. This creates a vicious cycle of sleep deprivation and low productivity.
The most direct solution is to start schools at a later time, such as 9am and end at a later time, like 4.30pm.
This change will allow students to arrive at school more energised, leading to improved concentration and motivation during lessons.
Consequently, their learning efficiency will increase, and their overall satisfaction and well-being will improve.
Under the current school start times, some students might be late since they cannot wake up at dawn. Others might call in sick or miss school owing to fatigue.
A later starting time can improve attendance, fostering a more disciplined environment.
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For students who enjoy waking up early, they can use their free time for healthy activities. They can jog in the early morning and enjoy the nice weather. Many are more likely to have a full breakfast rather than only gobbling up a piece of bread or skipping the meal altogether.
Some might be concerned that if schools start late, they also end late and push back students’ extracurriculars, meaning they will get less sleep.
But schools ending late doesn’t mean that everything else will be affected. Humans cannot ignore the natural sleep cycle or circadian rhythm. Instead, starting school late allows students to wake up later and become more energised during lessons.
It is undeniable that a later school start time is a crucial step towards the betterment of students and society.
The benefits it brings to students’ well-being and academic performance far outweigh any potential challenges.
Against: Valerie Shek, 14, Independent Schools Foundation Academy
Pushing back school start times may seem appealing on the surface – after all, who wouldn’t want to start school at 10am?
However, I firmly believe that schools should not begin later in the day. Not only would shifting start times significantly impact family schedules, but it would also disrupt after-school activities.
First, many families would face logistical difficulties if school started later in the day. Let’s take an example from the US: 70 per cent of American parents work between 8am and 5pm, meaning they depend on school hours to meet their work schedules.
Parents would have to find other morning childcare options if classes started an hour or two later. Families might have to pay for before-school programmes or hire private sitters, which could put an excessive financial burden on them.
It would be unfairly tricky for working parents to juggle the demands of their jobs and family responsibilities as a result of a later start time.
Additionally, the change to a later school start time may significantly impact extracurricular activities. Enrichment programmes must run far later in the evening to accommodate this schedule. This might cause students to arrive home late. The sleep schedules of students may also be affected.
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Students may eat dinner later than usual because they must stay late for activities. It may also be more difficult for students to wind down and go to bed at a decent hour.
Studies indicate that eating at night may raise your risk of developing chronic conditions like heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer.
Though later start times for schools may seem desirable, it would be a poor policy decision because of its adverse effects on family schedules, extracurricular activities, and student health.
Rearranging the school day would unfairly burden working parents and cause students to develop bad eating and sleeping habits. Schools should stick to their current start times to maintain stability and promote the general well-being of the school community.
