The screeching of brakes is heard by all. Then wham! A major car accident has just altered seven lives forever. Four people are now dead; three others critically wounded. The sixteen year old driver of a brand-new dodge car was too busy talking to his to friends in the car to pay attention to the road. The vehicle he rammed held a family of five. Now everyone involved suffers; all due to carelessness of an inexperienced driver. The state legislature needs to pass a bill that requires drivers to have a high school diploma before they can achieve their driver’s license. If the legislature passes this bill we would have safer streets, new driver maturity level will be higher, and the law will motivate people to achieve their high school diplomas. It is an excellent idea to make drivers acquire their high school diplomas before being allowed to drive a known killing machine.
First off, when the law is changed, our streets will be extremely safer than they are now. As of today when one turns sixteen they are given the opportunity to acquire their driver’s license. The vast majority of kids obtaining their driver’s license are too overly excited to maintain the calm needed when driving. A few years back my family was hit by a seventeen year old. He carelessly backed up into us. No one was injured but the car had to go into the shop and my five month pregnant mother had to go to the hospital to make sure the baby was not injured in the crash. If students were to earn their high school diploma first before driving, less people would be killed out on our streets. It is a proven fact that the older you become the higher your maturity becomes.
Second, one’s maturity after high school is higher than it is before graduating from high school. Maturity levels help greatly when driving a car. Maturity can help one keep a clear head in sticky situations. After all, experts agree that teens at the age of sixteen do not have the ability to handle stress as well as one who has their high school diploma. Experts also say that over 80% of all students who wait until they receive their high school diploma have for the most part a 30% more chance of surviving till they are well past sixty years old. As a result, more people will finish high school than if this bill is not passed.
Lastly, people will receive a beneficial reason to complete high school. Many teens need to be properly motivated to do anything. Requiring them to finish high school before seizing the rights to drive is a perfect motivator. It is every teenager’s dream to drive, but not all of them want or have the motivation to complete high school. When this bill is passed everyone will notice that the amount of high school drop outs will drop drastically. In the society we have today, there is a great need for at least a high school diploma. The vast majority of jobs will not accept people who do not have a high school diploma. With the need for a high school diploma and people not having them we gain more homeless bums on our streets. No one really wants to be a bum. We need this bill to motivate our students.
In conclusion, this bill would be a great improvement. When the law is changed, our streets will be safer, driver’s maturity levels will be higher, and more people will complete high school. We need this bill, so that there will be a lesser amount of screeching brakes. The bill is needed so that the sound of colliding metal on our roads is not as often heard by those that close around the accident. After all, too many people die in car accidents with young sixteen year old drivers. We have the great need for this bill to pass.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
It’s Great to Be Late for School
For my English class I had to write a persuasive essay on my own topic involving my school, so here it is. P.S. it's 1,692 words so it's ok if you don't read the whole thing.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Your alarm blares. You turn over and see the numbers 6:00 a.m. and you just groan. Last night your parents sent you to bed at 9:30 p.m., but you were unable to fall asleep until 11:15! Now you have to wake up for school. Unfortunately for you, your body won't let you wake up until approximately 9:00 a.m., so you'll be asleep for the first couple periods of school. For the past fifteen years students who attend my junor high school have suffered this exact torture. For more years than my parents have been alive, students of the high school I will be attending, have undergone something quite like the example I gave above. Like the example; teens normally won't wake up until later on in the morning, essentially sleeping through the first part of the school day. Since teens won't wake up until later many students and parents prefer school to begin later than the school district currently demands. Changing the time school begins would actually benefit the school district because students who are well rested would perform better on their end of level tests and attendance would improve. Incidentally, the reasons schools begin at the current times no longer applies to our civilization. To be fair and to accommodate those who are resistant to change, I propose that high schools should start one hour later in the morning.
Teen's internal clocks are different than the average adult and small child. Many studies around the United States of America have been conducted to determine the amount of adequate sleep required of teens and that of the general population. The studies show that teens perform better academically and attendance improves when schools begin later in the mornings than those students who have to start earlier. In addition, the studies show that teens benefit from increased early morning sleep. This translates into later school starting times being more effective for teens. In one test, scientists took saliva from students whose schools started later in the day and compared it to the saliva of students whose schools start at the currently established earlier time. They found that students, teens in general, are not fully awake until about 9:00 a.m. The studies showed that adolescent bodies are on a different sleep cycle than adults. Teens need 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night. But the interesting finding is that optimum sleep begins around 10:30 p.m. The hormone called Melatonin controls when one wants to sleep and when one wants to wake up, and it becomes a little messed up when puberty hits. Unfortunately most teens do not obtain all of their needed sleep. Their body clocks just don’t turn off until later hours in the night and then don’t turn back on until late in the morning. Thus, just sending a teenager to bed earlier does not accomplish the goal of actual sleeping. Not only does their sleeping cycle prevent them from sleeping, but the activities they do at night also interfere with getting all the sleep they need. Many teens have a lot of homework assigned to them throughout the school day that they must do in the evenings, many of them have jobs after school that they work at until dinner time. Or they may have many extra curricular activities after school that require a lot of time to complete. So by the time they have completed their day they typically are so wired they have difficulty falling asleep even if they wanted to go to bed earlier. As you can see late nights are typical for teenage students.
Most parents and teens would enjoy starting school later in the morning. Students at Harriton High School, Philadelphia took a survey in 2007. The results indicated that 90% of all the teens who took the survey said that they thought their academic performance would improve if school were to start later. 78% of these students said that it was hard for them to get up in the morning. Another study was taken and it proved that when high schools started later there was a decrease in the percentage of teens (that went to that high school) that suffered from depression. There was also a decrease in percentage in students that dropped out of school. At Edina High School, Minnesota 750 parents were interviewed and of those 750 parents 90% said they preferred the later start times. Along with the teenagers appreciating the chance to sleep in, their parents also enjoy having high schools start later. With teens not being so sleepy, parents find their kids are not nearly as much of a hassle to drag them out of bed and convincing them to attend school is less of a miniature battle from World War II! One study showed that teen drivers whose school began later caused less car accidents than those with regular high school starting times. Beginning school later is a potentially life saving decision! Also, student's grades have been proven to rise when they attend school later than those that had the earlier first bell schedules. Plus, with the kids getting home later that means less latch-key kids. Yes, we rationalize that if we send kids off to school before parent employment begins they’ll get to work on time, but then the kids return home before adult supervision is available creating hours of potentially problematic events. Besides, nowadays we have moved away from the traditional 9 to 5 work day and there is no set time for work to begin and some people even work at home. So getting kids to school before their parents’ employment begins is not an issue that should influence when school should begin. Not only do the parents and students like the later starting times, but it is also fair to the teachers and the school district. The goals set by educators should always be designed for student success.
Schools start at the times they do because of the type of civilization we used to have in America. We are no longer living in an Agrarian Society. We no longer need to get up before the sun rises and go milk the cows. We do not have farming chores that can only be completed in the afternoons. Changing to a later first bell is an intelligent decision that adapts to the current way of life. In my opinion, the optimal starting time would be 8:45 a.m. A later first bell is, in many ways, fairer to the teachers of these sleepy students than starting school at the present time. Educator job performance is significantly based on the grades of the students in their classes. With the passage of legislation like “No Child Left Behind” and other core expectations, a teacher’s career could be in jeopardy when students lag behind. If 20% of students fall asleep in the middle of an important lecture this will definitely impact an end of level test. Also, if a student's grades drop, even our fabulous but poorly paid teachers may find themselves searching for a new job at the end of the school year. Starting school later will not only help teachers but also benefit the school district. Their jobs are also affected by student's grade point average and attendance records. Schools get the majority of their funding based on pupil attendance. The more kids that go to school, the more money the school receives. Studies show that the drop out rate is lower in high schools that begin later in the morning. This appears to be a win/win situation; the schools gain more funding and more students gain a better education. I realize that one important issue that impacts change is the bus schedule. Adapting the bus schedule to later start times will be hard work, but in the end it may end up saving the school district thousands of dollars. When changing the bus schedule, consider just switching elementary school starting times with the starting time of our high schools and that may just solve the problem. (After all, elementary kids should go to bed earlier, so why not wake them up and send them to school before the sun rises instead of us poor tired teens.) Seriously, some schools have switched times and they saved thousands and found bussing to be a lot easier. If one worries about the impact to after school activities, they can be made shorter, thus saving the school district money once again. Later high school starting times simply make sense for everyone.
I will be starting high school next year and I can not see myself waking up for school so early. I have a hard enough time now. High schools should start later. Starting schools later is like teaching baby birds to learn to fly. The change may be a bit rough at first, but after a while it becomes a natural thing to do. The internal clocks of teens differ from adults and small children and schools should adapt to this fact. Parents and students have found starting school later is better for them than schools starting earlier. Starting high school later in the day is helpful to the majority of teachers all around the United States of America. It improves academic performance, school attendance and reduces drop out rates. I personally think that we need to begin high school one hour later, maybe that way I’ll actually get to see the sunrise before I enter the school building.
Works Cited
American Thoracic Society. "Start School Later In The Morning, Say Sleepy Teens." ScienceDaily 21 May 2007. 28 January 2009 <http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/05/070520130046.htm>.
"Late School Start Reduces Teens' Risk of Car Accidents." Modern Medicine. 16 Dec 2008. modern medicine. 29 Jan 2009 <http://www.modernmendicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/Late-School-Start-Reduces-Teens-Risk-of-Car-Accide/ArticleNewsFeed/Article/detail/571917?contextCategoryId=40137>.
"Later start times for high school students." College of Education & Human Development. 2002. University of Minnesota . 28 Jan 2009 <http://cehd.umn.edu/Pubs/Researchworks/sleep.html>.
Strauss, Valerie . "Schools Waking Up to Teens' Unique Sleep Needs." Washington Post. 10 Jan 2006. Washington Post. 28 Jan 2009 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901561.html>.
Trudeau, Michelle. "High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens." NPR. 18 Jan 2007. NPR. 28 Jan 2009 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6896471>.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Your alarm blares. You turn over and see the numbers 6:00 a.m. and you just groan. Last night your parents sent you to bed at 9:30 p.m., but you were unable to fall asleep until 11:15! Now you have to wake up for school. Unfortunately for you, your body won't let you wake up until approximately 9:00 a.m., so you'll be asleep for the first couple periods of school. For the past fifteen years students who attend my junor high school have suffered this exact torture. For more years than my parents have been alive, students of the high school I will be attending, have undergone something quite like the example I gave above. Like the example; teens normally won't wake up until later on in the morning, essentially sleeping through the first part of the school day. Since teens won't wake up until later many students and parents prefer school to begin later than the school district currently demands. Changing the time school begins would actually benefit the school district because students who are well rested would perform better on their end of level tests and attendance would improve. Incidentally, the reasons schools begin at the current times no longer applies to our civilization. To be fair and to accommodate those who are resistant to change, I propose that high schools should start one hour later in the morning.
Teen's internal clocks are different than the average adult and small child. Many studies around the United States of America have been conducted to determine the amount of adequate sleep required of teens and that of the general population. The studies show that teens perform better academically and attendance improves when schools begin later in the mornings than those students who have to start earlier. In addition, the studies show that teens benefit from increased early morning sleep. This translates into later school starting times being more effective for teens. In one test, scientists took saliva from students whose schools started later in the day and compared it to the saliva of students whose schools start at the currently established earlier time. They found that students, teens in general, are not fully awake until about 9:00 a.m. The studies showed that adolescent bodies are on a different sleep cycle than adults. Teens need 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night. But the interesting finding is that optimum sleep begins around 10:30 p.m. The hormone called Melatonin controls when one wants to sleep and when one wants to wake up, and it becomes a little messed up when puberty hits. Unfortunately most teens do not obtain all of their needed sleep. Their body clocks just don’t turn off until later hours in the night and then don’t turn back on until late in the morning. Thus, just sending a teenager to bed earlier does not accomplish the goal of actual sleeping. Not only does their sleeping cycle prevent them from sleeping, but the activities they do at night also interfere with getting all the sleep they need. Many teens have a lot of homework assigned to them throughout the school day that they must do in the evenings, many of them have jobs after school that they work at until dinner time. Or they may have many extra curricular activities after school that require a lot of time to complete. So by the time they have completed their day they typically are so wired they have difficulty falling asleep even if they wanted to go to bed earlier. As you can see late nights are typical for teenage students.
Most parents and teens would enjoy starting school later in the morning. Students at Harriton High School, Philadelphia took a survey in 2007. The results indicated that 90% of all the teens who took the survey said that they thought their academic performance would improve if school were to start later. 78% of these students said that it was hard for them to get up in the morning. Another study was taken and it proved that when high schools started later there was a decrease in the percentage of teens (that went to that high school) that suffered from depression. There was also a decrease in percentage in students that dropped out of school. At Edina High School, Minnesota 750 parents were interviewed and of those 750 parents 90% said they preferred the later start times. Along with the teenagers appreciating the chance to sleep in, their parents also enjoy having high schools start later. With teens not being so sleepy, parents find their kids are not nearly as much of a hassle to drag them out of bed and convincing them to attend school is less of a miniature battle from World War II! One study showed that teen drivers whose school began later caused less car accidents than those with regular high school starting times. Beginning school later is a potentially life saving decision! Also, student's grades have been proven to rise when they attend school later than those that had the earlier first bell schedules. Plus, with the kids getting home later that means less latch-key kids. Yes, we rationalize that if we send kids off to school before parent employment begins they’ll get to work on time, but then the kids return home before adult supervision is available creating hours of potentially problematic events. Besides, nowadays we have moved away from the traditional 9 to 5 work day and there is no set time for work to begin and some people even work at home. So getting kids to school before their parents’ employment begins is not an issue that should influence when school should begin. Not only do the parents and students like the later starting times, but it is also fair to the teachers and the school district. The goals set by educators should always be designed for student success.
Schools start at the times they do because of the type of civilization we used to have in America. We are no longer living in an Agrarian Society. We no longer need to get up before the sun rises and go milk the cows. We do not have farming chores that can only be completed in the afternoons. Changing to a later first bell is an intelligent decision that adapts to the current way of life. In my opinion, the optimal starting time would be 8:45 a.m. A later first bell is, in many ways, fairer to the teachers of these sleepy students than starting school at the present time. Educator job performance is significantly based on the grades of the students in their classes. With the passage of legislation like “No Child Left Behind” and other core expectations, a teacher’s career could be in jeopardy when students lag behind. If 20% of students fall asleep in the middle of an important lecture this will definitely impact an end of level test. Also, if a student's grades drop, even our fabulous but poorly paid teachers may find themselves searching for a new job at the end of the school year. Starting school later will not only help teachers but also benefit the school district. Their jobs are also affected by student's grade point average and attendance records. Schools get the majority of their funding based on pupil attendance. The more kids that go to school, the more money the school receives. Studies show that the drop out rate is lower in high schools that begin later in the morning. This appears to be a win/win situation; the schools gain more funding and more students gain a better education. I realize that one important issue that impacts change is the bus schedule. Adapting the bus schedule to later start times will be hard work, but in the end it may end up saving the school district thousands of dollars. When changing the bus schedule, consider just switching elementary school starting times with the starting time of our high schools and that may just solve the problem. (After all, elementary kids should go to bed earlier, so why not wake them up and send them to school before the sun rises instead of us poor tired teens.) Seriously, some schools have switched times and they saved thousands and found bussing to be a lot easier. If one worries about the impact to after school activities, they can be made shorter, thus saving the school district money once again. Later high school starting times simply make sense for everyone.
I will be starting high school next year and I can not see myself waking up for school so early. I have a hard enough time now. High schools should start later. Starting schools later is like teaching baby birds to learn to fly. The change may be a bit rough at first, but after a while it becomes a natural thing to do. The internal clocks of teens differ from adults and small children and schools should adapt to this fact. Parents and students have found starting school later is better for them than schools starting earlier. Starting high school later in the day is helpful to the majority of teachers all around the United States of America. It improves academic performance, school attendance and reduces drop out rates. I personally think that we need to begin high school one hour later, maybe that way I’ll actually get to see the sunrise before I enter the school building.
Works Cited
American Thoracic Society. "Start School Later In The Morning, Say Sleepy Teens." ScienceDaily 21 May 2007. 28 January 2009 <http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/05/070520130046.htm>.
"Late School Start Reduces Teens' Risk of Car Accidents." Modern Medicine. 16 Dec 2008. modern medicine. 29 Jan 2009 <http://www.modernmendicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/Late-School-Start-Reduces-Teens-Risk-of-Car-Accide/ArticleNewsFeed/Article/detail/571917?contextCategoryId=40137>.
"Later start times for high school students." College of Education & Human Development. 2002. University of Minnesota . 28 Jan 2009 <http://cehd.umn.edu/Pubs/Researchworks/sleep.html>.
Strauss, Valerie . "Schools Waking Up to Teens' Unique Sleep Needs." Washington Post. 10 Jan 2006. Washington Post. 28 Jan 2009 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901561.html>.
Trudeau, Michelle. "High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens." NPR. 18 Jan 2007. NPR. 28 Jan 2009 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6896471>.
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