Longer School Days Ahead?
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts has proposed a bill that would expand the school day for students across America. The bill, called the Teaching Fellows for Expanded Learning and After-School Act of 2007, is getting plenty of support nationwide from school officials and lawmakers alike.
Why would they want to expand the hours you spend in school? According to Senator Kennedy, our current system “does not meet the educational demands of our 21st century economy.”
In fact, recent studies have shown that American students are falling short on basic math skills and other areas when compared to students in other nations, and many believe that one reason is the shorter school day in the US. Many teachers feel that they need more time to give quality instruction.
In addition to lengthening the school day, the Act would provide funds for one-on-one tutoring by professionals. According to a spokesman at Kennedy’s Massachusetts office, the bill is “definitely a big priority” for the senator.
Do you think this is good or bad? Could you benefit from extra instruction from a trained professional? Let us know what you think!
Comments
that is a really bad way to fix the problem. I go to school with students who dont want to be there and they dont want to learn. THAT IS WHY the math scores are dropping. IF U PAY attention in class u will get the lesson!!!! AMERICA HAS SOME VERY IGNORANT KIDS WHO DONT WANT TO LEARN!!!!!!!! & i’m only 12 1/2!!!
It depends on what we would do in the extra time. I’d like to have help with my homework.
Hello my name is anneilia lleva. I think that kids should get free professional tutoring if they have trouble with math. I have trouble with math, but my father does not have enough money to support me for a professional tutor to fufill my future in math.
As a parent, I’m finding that our country seems to support the idea that it is necessary for our children to spend more time away from us. Really… how are we to instill our values, get eye-to-eye time, truly BE together, if after school is already filled up with transportation, homework assignments and the occasional extracurricular activity? The problem could be quality school time, yes, but I think, more importantly it is the lack of kids connecting to their parents time. PARENTS need to help their kids and not expect someone else to do it.
From-Homeschool on the Horizon in CO
It depends on the teacher and the quality of the learning. I mean, if it’s a bad teacher, and you won’t learn anything anyway, then there’s no point in making the school day longer, because you’ll just end up sitting and learning nothing, when you could be working on homework etc.
As for math scores- maybe the method of teaching isn’t working, or the students aren’t interested in learning- but whatever the cause schools should provide extra classes and teachers to help struggling kids- but not at the expense of having all the good kids just sit and do nothing.
I personally think its a great idea. My kids go to summer school even if they need it or not. They benefit from it. I think extra time per day will only help the kids. You think about other countries that has school some go 6 days a week and more hours then we do. With no summer breaks nor spring breaks. We have it easy if you would just look around and investigate. My oldest she goes to summer school and does listen in class. She is a straight A & B student.
My youngest does have some struggles, but she hasnt had as much intervention as the oldest. Which as the years progress she will.
I know several doctors that will tell you they went to summer school, and after school studies. Now that there doesn’t show its a waste of time. It shows that there is successful people.
A hour or two added will not hurt the kids.
That would be like saying in the older days that farming would hurt kids. They did that from dusk til dawn. I just think it needs to be looked at differently is all.
I do not agree at all. I am a hard-working student. i study, do my homework and make good grades. I am not a genius I just work hard. If everyone did this everyone *gasp* could be smart too! What a concept!
Lengthening our school day will only make all the stupid slackers hate school even more and make them want to resist it even more (and make people like me hate it too!)
People like Misty put too much pressure on their kids.
My mom never put any presure on me school wise and I made straight A’s all through elementary and intermediate. Now that I have begun junior high, I am involved in drill team so I only took two Advanced Placement class even though the school suggested i take all of them. I still make almost all A’s usually no more than 1 B and it is usually no lower than 87%. I must be at school at 8:50 in the morning and don’t get out until 3:50, from there I must go to drill team practice which ends at either 5:35 or 6:00. After that i must head home and I usually am at home by 6:45.
I still have to eat dinner, do my homework, study for tests, take a shower, and I always finish around 9:45 leaving me only 15min. of down time before bed. I think kids who go to school all day and are involved in extra curricular activities deserve an hour of down time to un-wind and listen to their fave. song or even watch an episode of ‘their’ T.V. Show.
I am a home-body so seeing my family a lot is important sometimes I get so upset with how busy I am and how I barely ever get to see my family. Family Dinners usually consist of my mom making a ppot of spagetti(example) and a differant times each family member grabbing a plate. I usually take them in the study to do home-work. I think that is sad!
Anymore time in school and i would die!!!!!
I think this is outrageous! This is NOT the way to fix our problem! I think they need to re-evaluate here.
LET KIDS BE KIDS!!!!!
GIVE THEM A CHANCE AT THE FREE TIME YOU GOT TO EXPERIENCE AS A CHILD!!!
I am a student in high school going into my senior year. just thought i would throw in some input because (it is i who are the students). do not misunderstand me, i love to learn, i seek knowledge, i go all over the place to get knowledge. School is the last place i would want to go to get this knowledge. Why? For one, knowledge is acquired very slowly. you sit and learn one thing at a time over a period of days and then you have to pull from memorization those specific points and reiterate them on paper. Sounds a lot like something we do in the business world? Its unconventional wisdom usually. They make you sit and listen, raise your hand to speak and ask to be excused for the restroom. Our school systems are so bad that kids hate school. its not because we are being forced to learn but because school itself beats the will so much out of students that they finally give up. i’ve seen very bright students be pushed to the edge to where they don’t care or see the point to trying as hard as they had in the past. We aren’t getting smarter, this is true. so what are we learning in school? CHEATING, STEALING,LYING, MISBEHAVING, FIGHTING, BULLYING, PLAGIARIZING.
We didn’t learn the information so we have to CHEAT on tests to pass classes and please parents.
There is hardly any discipline inflicted on students, they are “free reign” in school, they BULLY others, STEAL from others, and they defy teachers to the point where i feel like some kids need to be shot for what they are doing.
I get a 4.0 and i don’t learn anything in school. just to Bull ____ and ___ kiss. I learn more in a library in an hour than i learn in 6 hours in a school day. Its not about making what already fails longer, its about taking what sucks and coming out with a better version. Surely our hierarchy and their billions have figured out some kind of “better.” but then again they got shuffled through the same system and they are not creative enough to think any farther outside of their pathetic excuse for brains. By the way, they trick students into believing that points and grades are equal to money, the harder you work the more points you get. What do brownie points do in your life?
Sarah is right! If kids don’t wanna learn, they won’t! It’s their problem. Not the whole district’s. SAY NO TO LONGER SCHOOL DAYS!
As a high school teacher, I vehemently disagree with longer school days. I already arrive at school at 7 AM and teach from 8AM until 3:40 PM. I have a 20 minute lunch and a 45 minute planning period. There are days that I stay at school grading or planning for the next week until 5:30 or 6:00. Then I pack up what I haven’t finished, race home, try to care for my own family, and then take out my purple pen (red is too degrading, apparently) and continue to grade papers until 11 or 12. My alarm goes off at 3:30 AM so I can wake up, work out, get breakfast set out for my family, and leave it all in the hands of my wonderful husband as I race out of the door at 6 in the morning. If you add two hours to my day, when do I get to see my family? When do I get to sit at the dinner table and ask my children what they learned that day, help with homework, and tuck them into bed at a reasonable hour? Teachers are people too, with our own families, and our own children in day care that we cannot wait to pick up. You could pay me $100,000 a year, and it still wouldn’t be worth it!
As far as student success is concerned, the more you pile on a teacher, the more worksheets he or she passes out. It just works that way. Students do not learn by filling in blanks, answering a,b,c,or d, or matching up vocabulary words with the definition. Students learn by doing, and those lessons take planning, research, and TIME! Longer school days are horrible for teachers in multiple ways, and when a teacher is over worked, tired, stressed, and miserable, your child is NOT getting the education he or she deserves.
If we go to longer school days, we are going to have to revert to the “spinster school marm” days. It will become impossible for teachers to rear your children, and our own. All that does is create a whole breed of teachers that have no idea what raising children is all about. Nuns with rulers anyone?!