To the editor:
“The future starts today, not tomorrow” – Pope John Paul II. You may have heard about a movement to push school start times back, but not much action has happened. That’s because no one is stepping up. Well I am, and I invite you to join me. Wellesley public schools should push all start times back. Currently, the middle school starts at 7:45am and the high school at 7:30am. What’s more, buses pick up students as early as 6:50am, forcing students to wake up even earlier.
I remember the first couple days of middle school, where my bus came at 7:10 and I had to wake up at 6:30 to prepare. Because of this, I was getting much less sleep than I was used to and was very sleepy in class. It got to the point where, during my science quiz, I fell asleep mid-quiz! Thankfully, I still did well but that just shows how much early start times are affecting students. And it’s not just me! My Civics Action Project group surveyed over 150 students and over 83% of them agreed that we should change school start times to be later, with one noting “Whenever I come to school a bit late at 8:15, my day is always so much smoother and I feel so much better.” This is also backed up by science; According to the National Library of Medicine, schools that start at 8:30am or later reported lower suicide attempts, significantly higher student performance, less tardiness, and even lower dropout rates.
In addition, it is not just the students that are impacted. Every day, my dad wakes up at 6am to prepare breakfast for me and my siblings. If school started later, then perhaps he could get an extra half hour of much-needed sleep every day. I also just wanted to give a shoutout to my dad for always waking up early in the morning to help us no matter what. Furthermore, I’m sure this is not only the case for my parents. Parents all over the town are getting up far earlier—to prepare breakfast or lunch, wake up students, and/or drive them to school—than necessary.
You may be thinking, “Good article, now I’m going to move on with my day.” Don’t! This is about our future generation. Every day, students, who will someday be leaders, politicians, and inventors, are sleep-deprived and do poorly in classes because of that. Join the growing movement by petitioning for later school start times and the bill in the Massachusetts State House!
Andrew Liu
Wellesley Middle School 8th grader
