argument181 strive086G小组第二次作业

chenyunjiao1026UID: 2326752

181From a letter to the editor of a city newspaper.
"One recent research study has indicated that many adolescents need more sleep than they are getting, and another study has shown that many high school students in our city are actually dissatisfied with their own academic performance. As a way of combating these problems, the high schools in our city should begin classes at 8:30 A.M. instead of 7:30 A.M., and end the school day an hour later. This arrangement will give students an extra hour of sleep in the morning, thereby making them more alert and more productive. Consequently, the students will perform better on tests and other assignments, and their academic skills will improve significantly."



In this argument, the author concludes that adolescence need an extra hour of sleep in the morning to make them more alert and more productive. At first glance, the author’s reasoning seems to be appealing, while clearly examining the author’s reasoning, we may find that it is unconvincing. The argument contains several facets that are questionable.

First of all, there's no convincing evidence that an extra hour of sleep in the morning can improve students' academic performance. On the contrary, the truly is, best use of the first hour of a day is crucial to high efficiency. As Benjamin Franklin said, early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. And the students who do not satisfy their own performance may pursue perfect desire to themselves, complain teacher's shortcoming or just be lazy; perhaps they idle about all day and work with low efficiency.


Secondly, the author makes an oversimplified analogy on the extra hour for sleep. As we know, many factors should be taken into the consideration, such as the students may devote their time to watching TV, listening music, idling with friends in the campus, and so forth. These entertainments consume their energy, thus make them spend less time on hard working. Moreover, a extra hour in the morning means a less hour in the evening -- students might stay up late at night; there's make no difference.

Further, author does not provide enough information on the subjects of the survey. If the respondents only stand for a tiny proportion of the whole group, we should not be so sure about the conclusion that adolescence need more sleep to improve their performance.


In order to enhance students' academic performance, instead of increasing an extra hour for giving students a good excuse of being late in the morning, there's a long way to go. Improving students' ability to learn, create, and think is the most important mission for the authorities of education. In the final analysis, an extra hour has nothing to do with students' academic performance.