In Defense of the 8:30 Start

Starting classes at 8:30 rather than 7:55 is not just a casual amenity to be taken for granted; this later start time was fist implemented in hopes of ensuring that busy students get more sleep. And it has done just that. For students juggling particularly heavy course loads, long practices, late rehearsals, a half-an-hour commute to and from school, hours of Scroll layout, or even all of the above, this extra thirty-five minutes in the morning makes all the difference.

Teachers who resent this loss of class time should know that we students need this later start in the morning to function the rest of the day. Though some students do not have as much on their plates and may squander time on Facebook or playing video games instead of sleeping, most of us simply have more to do than there are hours in a day and struggle to get those eight crucial hours a night.

But the later start time has helped enormously. We are grateful for this gift and hope that it can graduate from its status as an “experiment” and become a permanent part of the school day. We thank the administration and implore students to continue putting this time to good use.