Students all across the country are getting up for school at different times. At Hall High School in West Hartford Connecticut, students have to be in school by 7:30 am. In fact, according to Kim Hart of AAA State of Play, Connecticut is ranked 2nd in the entire nation for the earliest school start time, averaging at 7:39 am. But, how does early start times affect students, parents, and teachers? “Students aren’t the only ones to benefit from sleeping in…more parents of middle and high school students reported sufficient sleep duration, and fewer reported feeling tired," says Kirsten Weir of the American Psychological Association. She also notes the same about middle and high school teachers, who think that later wake up times allow them to be better and more productive teachers. Additionally, Suzanne Dikker notes that there is some “...educational research suggesting that mid-morning may be the best time to learn.” Students are typically recommended to get at least 8-10 hours of sleep, but most teenagers don’t get that, especially at Hall High School. Adults are recommended to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep per night, but a lot of adults also don’t get that. In fact, senior at Hall High School Joshua Ng, says that he gets between 7-9 hours of sleep, so he may not always get the recommended amount of sleep for teenagers. This leads many to wonder whether Hall should push school back another hour or even two.
