For students, the most difficult part of a school day would probably be the moment when they need to wake up earlier just to get at school before the bell rings. Even adults can relate to that, right? However, one law in California changed the game for its students by letting them sleep in during school days!
California become the first state to ever pass a law that requires schools to open later than they used to just so students can sleep longer during school days. This law aims to improve the students’ academic performance by means of giving them more time to rest before going to school.
The legislation was signed on Sunday, October 3, by Governor Gavin Newsom. The new law proclaims that middle schools are not allowed to open earlier than 8:00 AM and high schools should not open earlier than 8:30 AM.
In a statement made by Governor Newsom, he emphasized that this law is based on science.
“The science shows that teenage students who start their day later increase their academic performance, attendance and overall health. Importantly, the law allows three years for schools and school districts to plan and implement these changes.”
Sleepy teens in California are probably rejoicing at this new law, thinking about the additional minutes for them to enjoy sleeping before finally going out of bed for school every morning. The link between a student’s increase in sleep time and their academic performance has been studied extensively and results were indicative that there is actually a good reason for students to be given more shut-eye time so they can do better at school.
The National Sleep Foundation states that 60% of high school students experience extreme daytime fatigue. Dr. Judith Owens, a pediatrician and MD of the NSF, says that “chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common – and easily fixable – public health issues in the U.S. today.”
Start School Later, a group of health professionals, sleep scientists, students and parents who advocates for a later start in school hours, also mention the benefits of enough sleep for students.
“Most adolescents need about 9 hours of sleep per night. Today, nearly two thirds of adolescents get under 8 hours of sleep, and two fifths get under 6 hours of sleep per night.”
But, what could possibly be the main reason of sleep deprivation among students, especially teenagers? UCLA Health has an answer to this question.
“Before puberty, your body makes you sleepy around 8:00 or 9:00 pm. When puberty begins, this rhythm shifts a couple hours later. Now, your body tells you to go to sleep around 10:00 or 11:00 pm.”
With this change, getting nine hours of much needed sleep for adolescents become hard to achieve, considering the time they need to get to class the following day. While students are celebrating for this new law, there are still critics that find this new law disadvantageous for families with working hours that cannot be adjusted to align with this change in school schedule.
“We know from experience that many of these parents will drop their children off at school at the same time they do now, regardless of whether there is supervision, and there is not enough funding from the state for before school programs to ensure the safety of students who will be dropped off early,” CTA spokeswoman Claudia Briggs said.
Democrat Sen. Anthony Portantino, the author of the bill, called this claim “adult-based” criticism.
“Productivity goes up because suspensions go down. Disruptive behavior goes down. Tardies go down. Violent behavior goes down. What it comes down to is a reluctance for adults to change,” he said.
Sen. Portantino also said that this bill will result to “overwhelming” health and welfare benefits for school-aged children.
Much can be said from either parties on whether who is right or wrong in this new bill’s passing. But, in the end, the fact is that the effects of this new law are yet to be seen through the performance and overall health of our students.
The law was passed only a few days ago, which makes it too early to say if it will really be an effective way to improve our kids’ school performance but, of course, we hope that his new law will work to their advantage as what was originally aimed when it was passed.
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