Some say that later start times will correct countless problems of student awareness in school, but the issues with the later start time outweigh the pros.

Sports and activities such as football, basketball, volleyball, band and theater all have practice after school for about three hours a day, and with a later start time comes later practice. If we push school back an hour to 8:25 a.m., then the time we get out of school will be an hour later (3:55 p.m.), causing practice to be pushed back. For example an organization that originally has practice from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. would not finish until close to 7:00 p.m. The students that still have homework, on average takes at least an hour and a half to do along with other necessities to take care of such as dinner, showering and basic socialization. With all of this, students do not go to bed until around 11 p.m on a good night and still only gives students eight hours of sleep. Pushing the start time back two hours will have an even more drastic effect.

Some students involved in activities also work outside of school. Pushing the school day back even something as small as an hour can affect how much time after school a student has to fit in homework, after school activities, work, socialization and other life events.

With pushing high school hours back also affects the other school levels’ start time. The school day times are staggered because of bus scheduling. Students who ride the bus now may not get home until around 4 p.m because of the bus route, so with the later start time, they would not get home until around 5 p.m. The time change’s impact would fall on students in other levels of schools, because those that now get out of school at 4 p.m would not get out until 5 p.m and not home until 6 p.m.

Teachers have lives and want to go home to their families. Some usually offer tutoring after school for students that need extra help, retake tests or get makeup work. They also stay later to grade papers, making lesson plans and work. Pushing back school times will make teachers get home later depending on where they live.

Moving the start time makes less time for productivity outside of school. Students will likely use the time before school to sleep rather than do homework. In the winter, the time changes, the days get shorter and it starts to get dark outside by 5:30 p.m. Oversleeping and tardiness would still persist as an issue as students continue to stay up late and not get enough sleep.

Therefore, students benefit more from an earlier start time more than a later start time because of the greater amount of time for productivity.