More sleep. The endless dream of all high school students, but for how much longer? A later start time at 9:20, two hours later than the current start time is being strongly pushed by the new Fairfax superintendent. We would get two more hours to sleep in and would therefore need not drink coffee in the morning, but be fully awake at school, be better drivers, and have better academic performance.

I think that having a 9:20 start would be better for all of us, even the teachers because then they don’t have to get up so early either. The reasoning behind starting later is actually quite scientific, the teenage brain is different from adult brains; it is harder for teens to fall asleep before 11:00 at night, but we have to get up between 5:00-6:00 the next day. This gives us only 6 or 7 hours of the 9  hours we are supposed to get; the 7:20 start time is made for the adults more than the students.

Since we have such an early start time, so many students are falling asleep in their first block classes. I have walked into my math class during first block and five or six people are already passed out on their desks, waking up only when the teacher calls on them or the bell rings.  I have nearly fallen asleep in class, and this is not good because I’ll miss a lesson and the teacher won’t even notice. Then I would fail the test, assuming I don’t sleep through that.

Also, because we would be getting more sleep, we would have yet another boost to the already good grades that Langley is known for. A student who got more hours of sleep could probably see a 3-4% increase in a grade percentage, or the difference between a B+ and an A. Teen driving is increasingly common, yet so are teen accidents due to fatigue. Getting more sleep would make us safer drivers. Also, because we would start later, students who want to do homework in the morning could do so at a reasonable time, rather than waking up at 5:00 to get that English essay done.

If we had a later start time, then Langley would be an even better school, with smarter, healthier students. All it would take is two more hours.