School should start later, not earlier.

Thank you for accepting. I look forward to a fun debate. May I remind con that he/she may not refute in this round, just post her arguments.To prevent dumb loopholes, we are both advocating for at least a 25 minute earlier/later start time.Due to the fact that there are many points to be made, I will be doing this debate in a bit of a different form then you usually see me do.Once again, I wish luck to my opponent!--Argument I: Physical and Mental Traits from Lack of Sleep----Sub-point I: The Brain--For my first point in this debate, I will be turning to sleep times. The teen human brain does not function until AFTER 10 A.M [1]. However, schools usually start at 7-8 AM [2]. That means the average teenager goes through three hours of work without the brain fully functioning at its maximum level of capacity.These three hours of work can be spent sleeping (most of it, anyway). The brain needs sleep to reach a good, functioning level. The more sleep, the better your brain will work [3]. The better your brain works, the better grades you get, which means that a later school start would mean better academic performance in many areas.Yes, teens have different brains that both children and adults [4]. They are still developing, and more rapidly that children's at that. Sleep is the key factor in mind growth [5]. Without sleep, their minds will not be able to grow the right way.Furthermore, sleep is a necessity outside of school. On October 19, 2013, scientists figured out why we need sleep for survival. The answer being that sleep washes out toxic waste in our body [6] meaning not enough sleep can lead to Alzheimer's. So when teenagers lack sleep, it both increases the risk of disease and decreases learning skills.--Sub-point II: Alertness of child--In school, a child obviously needs to be alert to learn, talk, read, and basically do anything they want you to do in school. Studies show that at 7 A.M, the brain's melatonin levels are still sending out sleep signals [7]. In fact, between 10 and 12 A.M, most student's awareness peaks [8].Less sleep can lead to less alertness, which means you are not aware of the world around you and more likely to drift off into a sleeping state. About 25% of high schoolers fall asleep during the day [9]. Even 6% of middle schoolers fall asleep during the day.Pushing the start of the school day later would lead to a peak in alertness, causing not so many to fall asleep, and be sharper and more aware of the world around you. That will be it for argument 1.--Argument II: Consequences from Lack of Sleep--The consequences of not getting enough sleep can be dire.--Sub-point III: Accidents and Deaths--Sleep can kill through accidents. Literally. 1,550 people, most under age 25, die in automobile accidents a year [10]. Drowsiness on the road is as bad as driving drunk, or worse [11]. Sleep also played a major role in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor failure, along with the Exxon Mobil Oil Spill [also 10.] You may argue that this only goes for people 16 and over. While this is true, drowsiness on the job/road/school can harm others (such as youths) and even cause deaths, as shown above.Aside from the major accidents, lack of sleep can cause minor accidents, also. Sleep loss increases memory loss (both temporarily and permanently) [12]. This can cause forgetfulness in school. One example would be forgetting information on a vital test, forgetting to bring some notes or your backpack, and other things that will make you have a bad day.To further prove this point, I looked at a Harvard webpage to further understand accidents and sleep. Harvard states that there are many noticeable negative changes in how the brain functions [13], a lot in decision making.--Sub-point IV: It dumbs you down.--Yes. Lack of sleep dumbs you down [14]. This affects ability to perform in Language Arts, Math, Science, and other important subjects. Studies have shown that people who get less than 7 hours of sleep do not function nearly as well as people who have 7 or more hours of sleep [15]. Many teens feel this impact.That will be it for my main arguments. I have just one more thing to show that this would actually work:Nauset Regional High School decided to delay their start time 65 minutes. Since then, there have been a 53% drop in failing grades and a drop of 150 discipline referrals [16]. Thank you for reading. I hand this debate over to con.[1] http://articles.baltimoresun.com...[2] http://www.sleepfoundation.org...[3] http://www.ninds.nih.gov...[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com...[5] http://bigstory.ap.org...[6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...[7] http://thestir.cafemom.com...[8] http://smallbusiness.chron.com...[9] http://www.startschoollater.net...[10] http://www.webmd.com...[11] http://www.safeny.ny.gov...[12] http://www.webmd.com...[13] http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu...[14] http://www.sleepdex.org...[15] http://sleepdisordersinformation.org...[16] http://www.collaborative.org...