All you kids out there who hate waking up early for school? Worry not, 'cause science has your back.

各位同學，你是不是討厭早起上課呢？ 不用擔心，因為科學是站你這邊的。

Hey guys, Tara here for DNews - and like many of you out there, I am NOT a morning person.

各位觀眾好，我是 Dnews 主播 Tara。就像許多人一樣，我不是早睡早起的人。

Having to wake up at 6 am every single day was probably the thing I hated most about school growing up

說到學生時期最討厭的事，莫過於早上 6 點就要起床，

and now, there's research to prove that it can actually affect our academic performance.

如今現在，科學研究證明早起真的會影響學生的課業表現。

A new study conducted throughout 718 public elementary schools in Kentucky, finds that

針對肯達基州 718 間公立小學進行調查後發現，

earlier school start times are associated with lower performance, but ONLY in students from middle or upper class backgrounds.

開課時間較早的學校，其學生課業表現通常較差，但並非全部學生皆如此，只有來自小康、富裕家庭的學生有該情形。

Researchers assessed academic performance using standardized test scores, as well as

為了評估學生的課業表現，研究人員收集了考試分數、

attendance rates, teacher-student ratios, and retention rates,

出席率、師生比、留級率等數據，

which is the number of students required to repeat a certain grade.

其中的留級率指的是學生必須再讀一次某個特定年級。

They theorized that earlier start times would be associated with lower performance in almost all of those areas,

他們假設開課時間較早的學校，學生的在各方面的表現都比較差，

particularly in disadvantaged schools. But to their surprise,

特別是偏鄉學校的學生們，但令人意外的是，

the results showed that wasn't true. Kids who attended schools in disadvantaged districts saw no difference in performance,

求證後的結果並非如此，偏鄉學校的學童表現並未較差，

regardless of what time school started.

且與學校課程的開始時間無關。

However, children attending affluent schools, saw a significant decrease in academic performance, the earlier school started.

但校園資源豐富的學生，受到開課較早的影響，學術表現卻有明顯落差。

Researchers say sleep deprivation could be what's at hand here.

研究人員表示，問題可能在於睡眠不足。

Not getting enough sleep could cause students to lose the ability to remain alert and focused in class and it may also lead to an increase in illness.

睡眠不足會導致學生提不起精神，且無法專心上課，同時也會提高疾病罹患風險。

As for why this only seems to affect children in affluent schools, the answers are still mostly unknown.

為何只有校園資源豐富的學生受到影響，其原因尚未釐清。

Although they believe it may be because disadvantaged children have so many other risk factors at play.

儘管研究人員認為，這可能是因為偏鄉學校的學生存在其他許多風險因素，像是與遊樂相關。

Now before we start rallying to have schools start at 9 am, there were some other unexpected findings.

在我們開始要求學校九點開始之前，要知道其實這項研究也有些意外的發現。

The study also found that the later school starts, the higher the chance there is of students having to repeat grades.

這個研究也發現，課程較晚開始的學校，學生留級的可能性較高。

For every additional minute later school starts,

學校課程每晚 1 分鐘開始，

retention rates increase by 0.2 %. So starting the school day off even 5 minutes later than normal,

學生的留級率就增加 0.2 %，所以學校若晚五分鐘開始的話，

could lead to a 1 % increase in the amount of students being held back.

學生的留級率就會增加 1%。

Now, that's pretty antithetical to the rest of the study, which links later start times with improved performance,

但這個研究的其他部分卻與這個結果相反，顯示開課時間較晚，能夠改善學生課業表現，

but one possible explanation for that, researchers say, is that starting school later may cause average students to improve,

研究學者解釋，其中一種可能性是，開課時間較晚能夠改善中間程度學生的課業表現，

while those with learning disabilities have an even harder time keeping up.

但也會造成學習能力不好的學生更難跟上其他同儕的腳步。

They also warn that because this is the first study to ever examine the relationship between school start times and student retention in pre-adolescents,

同時研究人員也警告，該研究是首次在青春期前，將學校開課時間和學生留級率之間的關係設為研究對象，

more research is needed before solid conclusions can be drawn.

因此，目前還需要進行更多的實證。

Still, think of all the things you could get done if school didn't start til 10 am!

不過，試想如果學校十點才開課你能夠做些什麼事！

You could read a book - or better yet, you could listen to a book on Audible.com!

你可以讀本書，或是直接上 Audible 網站聽有聲書！

Audible is the leading provider of downloadable digital audiobooks and spoken word entertainment.

Audible 是業界知名的有聲書廠商，提供各位數位有聲書下載和線上發音遊戲。

And they've got over 100,000 titles to choose from, including books for kids!

目前該網站已有10萬本以上有聲書供讀者選擇，其中也有兒童書喔！

Just download them to your iPod or MP3 player, and listen to them anywhere you want - on the bus,

只要下載喜歡的有聲書到 iPod 或 Mp3 播放器上，就能隨時聆聽，無論是公車上、

at home, or at recess, if you're one of the indoor kids. No shame in that, it's the reason I'm so pale!

家裡、還是下課時間 — 如果你比較喜歡待在室內的話，這沒什麼好尷尬的，我也一樣，所以我明白！

Best of all, you can get a free audiobook download of your choice by signing up at audiblepodcast.com/dnews.

另外，只要進入 audiblepodcast.com/dnews，並且完成註冊，就能免費下載一本有聲書，種類不拘。

Every sign-up helps support the show, and encourages reading - the best education of all.

您的註冊不僅代表對本節目的支持，還有鼓勵閱讀 - 也是給孩子的最佳身教示範。

In the meantime, let us know what you think of this study! Would you hate it, or love it, if school started a half hour later?

可以的話，請告訴我們你對這項研究有甚麼想法吧！你喜歡學校晚半小時開課？還是討厭晚點開課呢？

Parents, I'm sure you feel differently than your kids,

親愛的父母們，我知道你們一定和孩子有不同想法，

but let us know anyway! Just leave your answers in the comments below

不妨也讓我們知道吧！只要在下方留言處告訴我們就可以囉，

and as always, thank you guys for watching!

感謝您的耐心收看，我們下次再見！