In October 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a mandate targeted towards public middle and high schools for classes to start at later times. This law will take effect in the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. According to the law, middle schools are to start no earlier than 8:00 A.M, and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 A.M. This makes California the first state to create a mandate for later school times in the U.S.
“The science shows that teenage students who start their day later increase their academic performance, attendance, and overall health,” Newsom said. As the years progress, we find more and more teenagers with stress, anxiety, and depression. When this mandate was passed, the public supported and even praised Governor Newsom for being heart warming and understanding to the younger generation.
Although California is the first to do this in the United States, other countries have recognized the connection between teen’s mental health and their lack of sleep, and decided to have schools start later as well. For example, most highschools in Japan start at 8:35 A.M. They have less than 2.5% of teens diagnosed with depression. Compared to this, the U.S. has a rate of 6.7% of diagnosed depression.
This mandate is a very small step towards solving a very large problem. I believe people need to recognize why students are not getting any sleep instead of trying to find a way to give us more hours of sleep. Students aren’t getting any sleep because of the workload that comes with school, the pressure of getting into a good college, and the need to please parents. Many argue that the lack of sleep that students are receiving is due to staying up scrolling through Instagram stories and tweets, although this may be true, I want to point out that most of our work, grades, and school news is online.
Overall, I think that the new law doesn’t do enough, but is still good. Even though I will not be in public high school when the new law takes effect, I think that it will be a first step towards fulfilling what students need.
“The science shows that teenage students who start their day later increase their academic performance, attendance, and overall health,” Newsom said. As the years progress, we find more and more teenagers with stress, anxiety, and depression. When this mandate was passed, the public supported and even praised Governor Newsom for being heart warming and understanding to the younger generation.
Although California is the first to do this in the United States, other countries have recognized the connection between teen’s mental health and their lack of sleep, and decided to have schools start later as well. For example, most highschools in Japan start at 8:35 A.M. They have less than 2.5% of teens diagnosed with depression. Compared to this, the U.S. has a rate of 6.7% of diagnosed depression.
This mandate is a very small step towards solving a very large problem. I believe people need to recognize why students are not getting any sleep instead of trying to find a way to give us more hours of sleep. Students aren’t getting any sleep because of the workload that comes with school, the pressure of getting into a good college, and the need to please parents. Many argue that the lack of sleep that students are receiving is due to staying up scrolling through Instagram stories and tweets, although this may be true, I want to point out that most of our work, grades, and school news is online.
Overall, I think that the new law doesn’t do enough, but is still good. Even though I will not be in public high school when the new law takes effect, I think that it will be a first step towards fulfilling what students need.