16507 谢振礼TOEFL Essay: Should schools start later or earlier?
TOFEL Independent Writing
ielts360toefl@163.com
谢振礼 Jeenn Lee Hsieh
真题>Essay Question: (similar to TOEFL Writing Topic 20160109 China)
Should schools start later or earlier in the morning? Use reasons and specific examples or details to support your opinion.
范文>Example Essay:
It is a matter of opinions about whether to delay school start times in the best interests of all parties involved. Invariably, the debate focuses on linking biological concern and academic performance to students' sleeping patterns. In comparison, there are both benefits and drawbacks to ringing the first class bell as early as 7:30 a.m. and before or as late as 8:30 a.m. and after.
From one perspective, it is said that young people (ages 14-24 in particular) who start school later are better off simply because sleep deprivation causes real damage to their health and learning. Proponents of later start times say that many students who have to wake up early for school do not get enough sleep and that beginning the school day at a later time would improve their health and boost their achievement. Otherwise, the sleep deficit would put them at a significant risk of school-time sleepiness, which is certainly a bad idea. To prove this point, a series of studies have found that earlier start times may result in fewer hours of sleep as students may not fully compensate for earlier rising times with earlier bedtimes. Researchers have likewise reported a biological and academic correlation between the number of hours of sleep and school grades among both middle-school and high-school students. So, while starting school earlier in the morning to accommodate an expanded schedule does make sense, for teenagers sleep is not optional but is biologically necessary and thus the lack of sleep is likely to yield negative effects.
From a different perspective, the school policy of starting earlier also has good arguments. In spite of the sleep-related evidence in favor of delaying school start times, actually there is no absolute need to change the current trend which advocates an earlier bell schedule. As the cliche has it: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"--meaning that changing a school's start time inevitably affects a wide array of people--students, parents, teachers, among others. Even though moving bell times is one major step in a larger picture of ensuring that adolescents get the sleep they need, there are 'regular' sleeping habits to be taken into account, with the assumption that most sleepy students might just be 'lazy' students in general. For that matter, all parents have to do is to set bedtimes for their children, as well as rules about not using electronic devices before bed, for example. It goes without saying that pushing back school start times leads to teachers having to push back teenagers' daylight plans ranging from outdoor sports practices to extracurricular activities to after-school work to help their families.
To sum up, in view of students' sleeping hours, it is doubtful whether early to bed and early to rise is a good idea or not. Changing school start times, say 30 minutes or 60 minutes later, would allow students to sleep that longer and may even improve learning and get rid of health risks, but this would not 100% guarantee students enjoying better health and achieving better academic performance. After all, an early schedule is not meant to make all schools 'sleepy towns.' (Essay created by 谢振礼 Jeenn Lee Hsiehielts360toefl@163.com )
