Many schools, including Benet, give students late starts, whether it’s a late start every blue moon, every 2 weeks, or every week. Benet offers students a late start every other week, something I know almost all of the student population are immensely grateful for. But, some schools offer it every week or every day. How would a late start every week impact Benet positively or negatively?

Due to the immense workload that Benet students receive, many Benet students are up later than 10pm, and according to The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, teenagers should receive 8 to 10 hours per night. For example, if a student is going to sleep at midnight every night and waking up at 6, that is only 6 hours, something plenty of Benet students receive. Late arrivals, even if only once a week, offer students to catch up on rest and sleep longer than usual, averaging out their week and offering them almost a “break” in the middle of the school week. With more sleep, students can focus, behave, and learn better during the school day.

More-so, late arrivals are beneficial to teachers. Teachers as well do plenty of work outside of school hours like grading and prep work, and they too need a good sleep schedule in order to teach to their best ability. Late arrivals offer that. Teachers can also schedule meetings before school on late arrival Wednesdays, which leads to greater flexibility to attend meetings.

On the other hand, there are some negatives to having a late arrival every Wednesday. Class time is already limited every other week due to late starts, but class time would therefore be limited weekly if we had a late start every Wednesday. That leaves less time for in-class assignments, tests and quizzes, notes, and overall just decreases teaching time. However, one could argue that having kids more rested and alert during shorter classes is much more beneficial than having a bunch of tired, not-focused students during longer classes.

Overall, there are pluses and downsides to having a late start every Wednesday. But, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, and students AND teachers alike are benefited by this weekly occurrence. Late starts weekly would help more than hurt, and have endless advantages.