The Later Start Editorial
A student wrote this editorial: “Our school should start at 9:00 instead of 8:00. I surveyed 30 classmates. Twenty said they are often tired in first period. Fifteen of those twenty also said they stay up past midnight. Only five students said they get at least eight hours of sleep. Therefore, a later start will make everyone less tired.” The principal replied that the survey was small and that the district bus schedule, which serves three other schools, cannot change before 8:30. The student’s assignment was to make a claim and support it with relevant evidence, including one counterargument.
1. Identify one strength and one weakness in the student’s use of survey evidence. Explain each with a specific number from the editorial.
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Strength: The survey gives a concrete majority: 20 of 30 classmates (about two-thirds) report being tired in first period. That is relevant to the claim that first period is a problem.
Weakness: The same evidence undercuts the causal leap. Of the 20 tired students, 15 stay up past midnight. That suggests late bedtimes may explain the tiredness, not the 8:00 start. Also, 30 classmates are a small, non-random sample; they may not represent the school.
2. Is the conclusion “a later start will make everyone less tired” supported? Explain what the evidence actually supports.
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No. The evidence supports only a limited statement: “A majority of the 30 classmates surveyed report being tired in first period.” It does not support “everyone,” because 10 of the 30 did not report tiredness. It also does not show that a later start would reduce tiredness; the late-bedtime data point to behavior, and the survey did not compare schools or test a later start. The conclusion overgeneralizes from a small sample and assumes a cause the data do not establish.
3. The principal raises a bus constraint. How should the student revise the argument to address this counterargument without abandoning the claim?
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The student should acknowledge the bus constraint directly and narrow the claim. For example: “A later start may reduce first-period tiredness for students who are not staying up past midnight, but the district would need to adjust bus routes or phase in the change.” The revision should cite the bus schedule as a counterargument, propose a feasible response (later arrival for one school, a pilot, or a survey of other districts), and avoid claiming immediate universal benefit. This keeps the claim arguable while showing the student considered the principal’s objection.