After the study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics stating that students would be more productive if schools would start at least at 8:30, the New Jersey senate has passed a bill that begins a scanning of all the registry records of schools, and comparison of data based on the starting time of schools.

Students register a very low amount of sleep during high school, and this directly influences the attention span during early morning classes.

The study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics declares that sleep deprivation is plays a great role is modifying students’ work ethics and interest in school activities.  It’s stated that a school that starts at 7:30 is way more unproductive than a school that starts at 8:30. By bringing this whew on a larger scale, it’s easy to understand that the whole country is penalized because of a new generation that’s not able to fully express its potential.

Some students and teachers have been interviewed at Hammonton High Schools and the opinions gathered show that moving the school day is not always the most productive idea.

The idea of having more time to sleep is usually the most appealing, but some students might disagree and rather handle with a little sleep deprivation rather than to leave school an hour later.

“I’d like to have more time in the afternoon” said junior Isabella Massey. “I’d rather have more time to do things rather than to sleep in.”

However, there is a great number of students that do enjoy the idea of having more time, and also see the chance of an increase in productivity during the school day.

“It’s well worth to change the school day and start at 8:30” said junior Michael Carroll. “To get more sleep would allow me to not be too tired during the early morning lectures.”

Being tired in the morning is a main cause of distraction for students but some believe that a whole hour shif might be too much.

“To shift the school day for a whole hour means that all my afternoon activities will be shifted by one hour” says senior Gabrielle Sceia. “maybe only half an hour might be enough, otherwise it would affect the whole day.”

The fact that school will start one hour later means that all after-school activities will have to move by one hour, and this will consequently have repercussions on the whole circadian rhythm.

“I believe that the students’ productivity would increase” said math teacher Mr. Jonathan Wilson, “but I also believe that nobody would like to leave school at 3:07. Overall it’s better to not change the system.”

The belief that students’ productivity would increase is the main goal for the New Jersey legislators, however, there are some who believe that a change in the school time would hardly change the students’ commitment to school.

“To have more time to sleep has nothing to do with a student’s work ethic,” said history teacher Mr. A.Jay Siscone. “A change in the system might only allow students to go to sleep even later at night.”