In this blog post, we take a multifaceted look at how the 9 a.m. school start policy affects students’ sleep, meals, concentration, and family relationships.
In South Korea, Gyeonggi Province implemented a 9 a.m. school start policy across the board on September 1, 2014, and Jeolla Province followed suit in October 2014. The 9 a.m. school start time policy for elementary and middle schools in Seoul was fully implemented in 2014. On March 1, 2014, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced and implemented a policy to adjust the school start time for elementary and middle school students to 9 a.m. This measure was implemented to ensure that students get enough sleep and to improve their health and learning efficiency. In the case of high schools, the school start time could be adjusted at the discretion of each school. As a result, public opinion is divided, with heated debates taking place through various surveys and pro and con arguments. Teachers are opposed to the 9 a.m. start time, while students are in favor of it, and parents of elementary, middle, and high school students are divided depending on their individual circumstances.
In this regard, there are various opinions on the 9 a.m. start time. Some experts argue that starting school at 9 a.m. will increase students’ sleep time and improve their learning ability. According to various studies, sufficient sleep greatly helps improve concentration and memory. Therefore, if students get enough sleep and participate in classes in a rested state, their academic achievement is likely to improve. In addition, having more time in the morning will reduce stress and allow students to have a more positive attitude toward school life.
On the other hand, there are also many opinions against starting school at 9:00 a.m. Many teachers are concerned that this policy will increase their working hours and make it difficult to adjust the academic schedule. In addition, in dual-income households, parents may experience inconveniences due to the mismatch between their work start times and their children’s school start times. In order to solve these problems, schools and local communities will need to work together to develop various measures.
I am in favor of the 9 a.m. start time, which has been a hot topic lately. It is beneficial for students’ physical health because they can eat breakfast and sleep longer, and it is beneficial for their mental health because they can talk with their families while eating breakfast. With a 9 a.m. start time, students can eat breakfast and sleep longer, which is good for their physical health.
Looking back on my high school days and thinking about the morning routine of high school students today, I would wake up at 6:30 a.m., leave for school by 7:10 a.m., eat breakfast at school, and then have morning study time from 7:30 to 8:20 a.m. I attended a boarding school, so I was provided with breakfast at school and it didn’t take long to get there. I didn’t get enough sleep, so I tried to eat breakfast while still half asleep, but I had no appetite and usually ended up throwing away most of my food after taking a few spoonfuls of soup. In addition, during the 50-minute morning study period, about 25 of the 30 students in my class slept with their heads on their desks due to lack of sleep. The first class ended at 9:10 a.m., but I was still half asleep during the class and couldn’t concentrate. In addition, I didn’t eat much for breakfast, so I had no choice but to buy snacks at the school store during the second and third classes. I think the lives of junior high and high school students today are not much different from my high school life. This sloppy morning routine began with trying to fit everything into the early school hours.
If school started at 9:00 a.m., I could sleep longer, eat a proper breakfast, and concentrate on the first class. It is also better for students’ health because they can eat a nutritious breakfast instead of snacks sold at the school store. Based on my experience, I am in favor of a 9:00 a.m. start time. With a 9:00 a.m. start time, students can eat a delicious breakfast and avoid the discomfort of sleeping on their desks at school.
Starting school at 9 a.m. allows students to talk with their families in the morning and get enough sleep, which helps them start the day refreshed and is beneficial for their mental health. Nowadays, it is said that family members do not often eat together. In the morning, everyone is busy rushing to work or school, so they just eat bread, milk, or cornflakes, and it is almost impossible for the whole family to sit down and talk while eating. The same is true for dinner. Everyone comes home at different times, and it is not uncommon for it to be a rare occasion to have dinner with the father, who is the head of the family. Even when the family does have dinner together on a weekend or after a long time, it can be awkward to have a heart-to-heart conversation with junior high and high school students who have just entered puberty.
Instead of busy mornings and everyone eating dinner separately, the later start to the school day allows the whole family to eat breakfast together every day. If we can continue to sit down together every morning and talk for a while, our students will feel the love of their families and accept their care, which will help their mental health. In addition, starting the day after a good night’s sleep will give them more positive energy than starting the day still half asleep. Learning with a clear mind will naturally improve efficiency, and the feeling of refreshment and confidence in their efficiency will enrich the mental lives of students.
Despite my support for this proposal, there are those who oppose a 9:00 a.m. start time for other reasons. The most common argument is that it would be difficult for dual-income families. With children starting school later than their parents, there would be a risk of them being left unattended in the morning. The Board of Education is considering measures to address this issue. According to media reports, plans include morning childcare programs, opening school libraries, and assigning teachers to supervise students.
These programs should be actively utilized. Another argument against the proposal is that it will lead to an increase in private lessons and cram school attendance in the morning. However, since the start of school will be delayed by only an hour or 30 minutes, it is unlikely that students will attend private lessons or cram school during that time.
Considering the time it takes to travel from home to cram school and then back to school, I believe that even if the start time is delayed, it is unlikely that students will attend cram school during that time. Furthermore, if parents recognize that utilizing the morning hours is beneficial to their children’s mental and physical health, they will not allow them to spend their mornings at cram school. In fact, they should not allow them to do so.
An article titled “Seoul City to Push Ahead with 9 a.m. School Start Time” published in the Korea Education Newspaper by the Korea Federation of Education Organizations raises several other objections in addition to those mentioned above. I would like to offer my opinion on some of them based on my own views. It is said that students may visit PC cafes before school, but no student would go to a PC cafe in the morning just to play games for 30 minutes or an hour. One might think that students would spend time at PC cafes at night as school starts later, but teenagers are not allowed to stay at PC cafes after 10 p.m., and there is a shutdown system, so they will not play games late into the night.
It has been said that traffic congestion may worsen as students’ school start times overlap with office workers’ commuting hours, but students do not use private cars for transportation, so the possibility of traffic congestion worsening is low. Bus and subway schedules may be adjusted to ensure that students can get to school smoothly, but this is unlikely to cause traffic congestion. There were also opinions that morning sports activities and various creative activities may be reduced. However, since morning sports activities are conducted before the first class, increasing the number of such activities would not reduce them, but rather increase them. In addition, I think that the extra time in the morning may encourage more students to exercise on their own.
Finally, there are opinions that the 9:00 a.m. start time is not good for high school seniors who want to adjust their daily routine to the college entrance exam because it does not match the exam schedule. The college entrance exam for Japanese language begins at 8:40 a.m., and students are required to be in their seats by 8:10 a.m. Even before the 9 a.m. start time was implemented, high schools did not require students to arrive by 8:10 a.m. and start the first class at 8:40 a.m. Arguing that the timetable for senior high school students must be adjusted to the college entrance exam after the 9 a.m. start time was implemented seems to be simply an attempt to criticize the 9 a.m. start time policy. Furthermore, it is sufficient for students to adjust their daily routine to the CSAT schedule two weeks before the exam, so there is no need to start arriving at school at the same time as the exam begins long before the exam date.
Amidst heated debate over the 9 a.m. start time, there is a tendency for the pros and cons to be divided along progressive and conservative lines. There are conservative groups that blindly criticize the policies proposed by progressive education superintendents who were elected in large numbers in the recent elections, while there are also minority groups that blindly express their approval and agreement. Such confrontation and conflict are not beneficial to an educational environment that truly cares for students. Rather than ideological confrontation, appropriate policies should be implemented for the mental and physical health of students and to ensure that they can enjoy each day.
The policy of starting school at 9 a.m. should not simply be about delaying the start of school, but should also be accompanied by measures to support students who arrive at school early in the morning. There is much to be done, such as expanding libraries and improving before-school programs. First and foremost, we must continuously observe and analyze the pros and cons of the policy in Gyeonggi Province, where it was first implemented, and continue to refine the policy.
Despite various opposing opinions, I strongly support the 9 a.m. school start time because I believe that securing time in the morning is essential for the physical and mental health of students.
