Drowsy Driving

By Alex Long

     Every morning, students flood into school with groggy faces and cups of coffee. Because school starts so early in the morning, students are forced to wake up at un godly hours of the morning. Some students even get up as early as 5 o'clock in order to get school on time to avoid receiving a detention. Getting behind the wheel this early in the morning to drive to school is dangerous to students, which is why schools should start later.

     Getting behind the wheel while you are sleepy is just as bad as driving while impaired. Discovery Channel says, “A recent study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that drowsy drivers are responsible for one in six — or 17 percent - of fatal car accidents.” High schools setting their start time so early in the morning increases the probability that someone will fall asleep while at the wheel and cause an accident.

     Lots of teachers say to just go to bed earlier, but the solution is not this easy. US News says, “For high school students who typically have five classes with different teachers, that could mean as much as 17.5 hours each week.” This means that students with five classes receive roughly 3.5 hours of homework every weekday. However at Glenelg, students have six classes everyday so they revive approximately 4.5 hours of homework each weekday. In addition to homework, students have many extra curricular activities such as sports or academic clubs. This leaves barely any time for dinner or family bonding. These afternoon obligations make it very difficult to get a good night's sleep, which leads to students being drowsy throughout the day.

     There is a two part solution to this problem. Firstly, schools should start later in order to allow students to get a good night’s rest. However, in order for students to still have time to participate in after school activities and spend time with family after school while still being able to get a good night’s sleep, teachers must assign less homework. This solution would ensure that students have free time after school to meet their responsibilities and be able to get a good night’s sleep, thus being well rested for school in the morning.

     If high schools were to start later and teachers assign less homework, students would be able to get the proper amount of sleep and be well rested in the morning. Students would also be more engaged throughout the school day because they were able to get a good rest the night before.