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[SoRuffShoNuff]

Hasn't school time been increasing?

It's not like kids are doing better according to the international tests.



I get it, but why are we making schools into these vast institutions responsible for curing every youth social ill.

Schools cannot do this. They're barely funded for the basic subjects as is.

I know, I grew up in the inner city.

If you want schools to be this magical panacea of social ills you're looking at the wrong place.

The biggest issue with student performance is poverty and that's bigger than schools.

Wanna improve this? How about ending the drug war, which is a huge focus of gang activity.

The school itself doesn't have to be a cure. It's a profile place that the child spends their time away from elements that would harm their development. And often it's the only place they receive two decent meals. You take away that 5th day then you need somewhere for them to go and spend time other than on the streets.

Sure there are other issues that have a greater impact on their upbringing than simply going to school but that doesn't mean you toss the kids into the fire BEFORE you fix those other issues.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Who cares about students

They already have long vacations

What if I only had to work 4 days a week

 

[Supast4r]

These days kids in America aren't in school for long enough...

 

[Vanillalite]

And what about the teachers that have to work that extra day of the week in addition to everything else they have to do? There's a big difference between being able to grade work and input grades at your own pace on the weekend, compared to having to cram it in at the end of the day during the week. You're essentially calling for teachers to work without a break, which would lower their ability to provide a proper education for students.

I think your plan would work best if the sixth day was a voluntary extracurricular day, but that's it. Everyone needs their time away from work.

It's an issue to be sure, but you could build around it with block scheduling.

That and teachers wouldn't have to cram it in at the end of the day. Shorter school days would be shorter for teachers as well. You wouldn't be teaching as long each day so more of your day would be free.

The bigger issue is cost. There is inherent cost increase to making people go for 6 days vs 5 even if you are shortening the time each day.

 

[DonShula]

Horrible idea. Just adding an extra hour to the school day would make it horrendously long. The middle school I teach at STARTS at 9:30 and gets out at 4. If you were to hypothetically make up that Friday you would have to add an extra two hours meaning you would get out of school at 6.

Even if it's not that extreme you'd still have to push back extra curricular and after school programs later. Athletics, tutoring, performing arts, all of these would have to be done much later in the day. Then ypu got to worry about picking kids up that late or having supervision on the day off...its a lose lose situation for everyone.

I'm surprised there hasn't been strong opposition based on sleep alone. Kids already don't get enough sleep in general. Making them go to school even longer four days a week isn't going to help that.

Then you're paying for supervision on Fridays for the younger kids, which would probably spawn some enrichment-type services that the kids would rightfully view as additional schooling. Longer real schooling for four days per week and additional pseudo-schooling on Fridays - I couldn't propose that to my kids with a straight face.

Sounds great for households with single earners or older kids, though.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Terrible for working parents

Yup.

Even now, with a 5 day school week, i always get the impression that the school and some parents around the school just expects a parent to be available during the work week.

 

[John Kowalski]

So in college I only have four school days... cool I thought. But the teachers just give us a ton of homework that inevitably occupies that free day!! Not cool.

 

[Yaboosh]

How old are we talking about?

I was a latch key kid at 5. I would have loved to stay home and play in the afternoon on a Friday. I would be fine.

The issue is that we have this helicopter parent culture these days we kids must be supervised 24/7.

I honestly can't tell if this is sarcasm.