My high schools first period started around 7:20. Not as bad a 6, but still too early IMO.

I am going on 2 decades removed from my American high school, so maybe things have changed. But I also recall starting school within +/- 10 minutes of 8:00 AM.

The only exception was strictly extracurricular, a men's choir which practiced between 7:00 and 8:00 AM. The expectation, implicitly, was that parents or friends were going to be the ones getting you there.