Science says teens need more sleep. So why is it so hard to start school later?

Well when you realize we treat school as glorified babysitting and not just education, part of the reason becomes more obvious. Parents work 40 hours so we need kids in school roughly that length of time. Especially when both parents have to work to afford to live.

We need to uplift a lot about the entire system for it to work.

As someone who's direct family member manages a school schedule in the US, it's sports. Schools are not for academia anymore. Everyone wants little Timmy to grow up and be a famous American Football star and get that scholarship. You have to start school early enough that it ends early afternoon. Which then allows for after school sport practice which finishes around the time mommy and daddy finish their 9 to 5. Then the games are scheduled after that so the parents can come watch and spend money. The spend money is a big one as they are wasting millions on these arenas for sports while the science labs have textbooks with no spines left.

It's a bit depressing to me that we've known this for at least twenty years, and possibly more and it's still a problem.

A major concern has been busing. Even in normal times, districts use the same buses and drivers for students of all ages. They stagger start times to do that, with high schoolers arriving and leaving school earliest in the day. The idea is that they can handle being alone in the dark at a bus stop more readily than smaller children, and it also lets them get home first to help take care of younger siblings after school.

If high schools started as late as middle and elementary schools, that would likely mean strain on transportation resources. O'Connell said Nashville's limited mass transit compounds the problem.

"That is one of the biggest issues to resolve," he said.

This is basically it, school systems not wanting to buy the extra buses or hire the extra drivers they'd need.

Unfortunately I don't see this ever being solved without a major cultural/financial shift in the USA towards properly funding education. Too much financial pressure to have fewer buses and fewer drivers. If my high school and middle school had started at the same time as the elementary, that'd be like 14 new buses alone at $60k-$110k a pop, not including driver wages and the diesel for each one...and we had more than one high school and middle school in our district. So it'd be more like 50 new buses, just to start HS and middle school at the same time as elementary. The cost would eat smaller districts alive. It'd be several million just to procure the buses new.

schools are largely daycare facilities for the low/middle income brackets.

Because school is entirely geared towards parents. Nothing about school is actually good for the people going through it, but the system doesn't actually care about them, and isn't designed to.

to get them used to being overworked amd underpaid ofcourse

It should also say not every person has to be at their job at 9am plugging up the road for the same reason said teens are being dropped off by these parents.

I can tell you my personal hypothesis as to why it happens in universities:

1. Timetabling work 8--4
2. Misery loves company

A major concern has been busing. Even in normal times, districts use the same buses and drivers for students of all ages. They stagger start times to do that, with high schoolers arriving and leaving school earliest in the day. The idea is that they can handle being alone in the dark at a bus stop more readily than smaller children, and it also lets them get home first to help take care of younger siblings after school.

If high schools started as late as middle and elementary schools, that would likely mean strain on transportation resources. O'Connell said Nashville's limited mass transit compounds the problem.

Are staggered start times common in America?

They cite one reason, busses, for the issue? With no mention of sports? Bad reporting.

In my experience talking with school officials and reading between the lines of BS that get fed out by them, you get to take your pick because all are true.

• sports are more valuable than the mental and physical health of all of the students. Boosters bring in fat stacks for the school and scholarships bring prestige and clout when it comes time to justify government spending.
• so the teens can get out of school early enough to be exploited for free childcare by parents.
• so they can be pushed into the labor force after school.

Really all of them are actual reasons that they start so early despite overwhelming research that starting later in the morning would lead to better academic outcomes and better long-term information retention.

Schools in the USA are not about education. They are conditioning centers to "prepare" kids for abusive expectations in post graduation employment.

Because parents would then have to pay someone to babysit and then take their kids to school at the later time in addition to after school care. And why can't parents go to work later? Same reason companies aren't allowing work from home even though it's proven that the majority of people are more productive. The managers need to justify their existence, so they have to have their employees all there at the same time. And for some reason society has decided that morning people are somehow better than everyone else.

Because parents have to go to work, and teens with boyfriends/girlfriends don't know how to use condoms and can't get abortions in some states. Also, used car prices and insurance make teens driving to school on their own unaffordable.

Because kids need to be at school while parents work

First it has to start early enough so parents can get kids off then get to work. Also, extra circular activities like sports and clubs, as well as parents wanting kids home when they are home.

Actual answer one heard that unfortunately makes sense: school sports after class. If you start classes later everything gets pushed back to obscene times.

Personally my high school started a half hour in grade 12. Just that made a world of difference.

I'm pretty sure it just boils down to hatred of young people. "I had to get up early so you do too."

Which is why I think we should amend the constitution to allow cruel and unusual punishments for people who utter the phrase "build a better world for our children."

It all goes back to the farmers. Farmers were up at the crack of dawn to use the light, so industry followed them. Now we're trapped in a circle, following the same schedule because we follow the same schedule.

Our regular middle schools start late. It can work. The reason they don't do it for high school where it is needed most is sports.

Easy. School isn't for school. It's a daycare with its hours offset from the working day, skewing early so parents can get their kids there before work. Kids spend 2 hours on a bus and 7 hours in a classroom every day because both of their parents have to work.

Just wondering friends in Canada and EU - when do your teens start the class day? I don't doubt this is yet another thing US education gets wrong but just wondering how better funded education systems are doing things.

Support 1h nap before the actual classes.

How about a nap time and just extend the day. It's odd to me that school gets out so early anyway.

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Teens are irresponsible, every time there’s a pilot program they just stay up later

They would just stay up later if they knew they could sleep in. It won't fix that.

Also, If we are going to change it, we need to just shift everyones starting time back an hour so their parents can still take them to school before work. Or possibly drop some time off the workday.

Why is it so hard to sleep earlier?

Because way too much would need to be changed for that to work. Here's a hot tip, go to bed earlier.