No one enjoys waking up early in the morning, but at the end of the day, it’s the best way to take full advantage of your day. School start times across the country start around 8:00 am. At what time the first bell rings has been a controversial topic for years. I believe the hour school starts should remain the same. Starting early means ending early. Even if it means hating your alarm clock in the morning, getting up an hour or so earlier will benefit the rest of your day.

A main reason schools decide to start very early in the morning is because of transportation costs. Beating heavy traffic in the morning saves transportations companies hundreds of dollars. According to an article by Marie Anderson, “Schools may be able to save up to 30 percent on transportation costs by starting some campuses early and staggering start times within the district.”

By beating traffic, one school bus is able to take multiple routes. This means needing less drivers and buses, saving schools an additional amount of much needed money. Avoiding getting caught in traffic also means a shorter ride to and from school. For some high schoolers, time in the afternoon is crucial, wasting time in traffic can really affect someone severely. Many teens are working part time just to help their families make ends meet.

According to Child Trends, “In 2018, 50 percent of all youth, ages 16–24, were employed, either full- or part-time.” Since 2018, numbers in youth employment have only gone up, making it extremely important for students to end school earlier in the day in order to divide their time between work and school.

Extracurricular activities are just as important as school for kids and young adults. Students need an outlet to relieve their stress and learn to socialize with new people outside of just school.

Students today have just enough time in order to balance their sports and hobbies with homework.

According to a study done in 2007 from The National Center For Education Statistics, “high school students spend around seven hours a week on homework.” This could be draining especially for younger children. Starting school later would mean getting home later. This means students will be more likely to go to bed at a later time.

Many say that starting school earlier in the morning affects students’ amount of sleep but, I disagree, if students end school earlier they are given more time in the afternoon to get their homework done and go to sleep at a reasonable time.