There has been a lot of argument about whether we should extend the school year and day. This is a controversial topic. Some experts believe that it is the quality of time that is important rather than quantity of time. Others believe that if the school day or year is increased, extra syllabus can be covered and give the opportunity for more knowledge. According to President Obama, kids should attend school even in the summer to increase their potential.
Know the Facts
Before we reach to any conclusion, there are few facts to be known.
First do we know how much time an average school gives for students in America? There are around 180 days of school in a year with each day comprising of around six hours a day. If we compare this with other countries like England where a typical day consist of eight hours a day with around 220 days of school a year, we find that America really has less days of schooling.
Secondly we have to know if lengthening the day or year will have any effect on student achievement. It will surely have if the time is allotted properly. Schools need to plan in such a way that they can divide the extended time for three things – proper allotment of time for instruction, time for instructional activities and time to complete those instructional activities.
Understand the Arguments
There are many arguments related to lengthening the school year.
- Many researchers find that with new technology coming day by day, for students to maintain the pace an extra effort is needed and this can happen only if schools increase their curriculum. However, to cope with new and extra curriculum more days of schooling will be required.
- Some teachers believe that if they are given more time they can cover their syllabus in a better and more appropriate way. With more time they can give students additional projects and keep a check on individual students.
- Another argument that teachers generally give is that it can also be beneficial for working mothers. By extending the school day their child will spend more time in school and can join electives like computers, remedial labs, gymnastics, piano lessons, dance programs and art programs.
- An argument that doesn’t favor the lengthening of school is the budget. If we plan to extend school days to eight hours a day and the school year to around 200 days a year, it will increase the annual budget to around twenty billion dollars. This is a time of recession where cost cutting is going on everywhere. So don’t you think it will be hard for school districts to increase their budget to this level?
2 R’s of Extended School Year Program
Rewards of Longer School Day
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
I do not believe in this idea of extending the school program!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As a student I do not believe it because the person proposing this does not go to school at all and his children do not go to public school so it would not effect his family at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg you kidding me
school is hard enough already.. give us a break! D:
Yes, we agree that school is difficult and challenging for many students and that some students feel the school year is long enough. However, we must take into consideration that some students welcome a longer school year and need the extra time in the classroom!
Ummm.. I’m a student, but I agree we should have longer school years because most other countries are more educated than America…… My parents are from India and I’m born in American, but I am not that smart as my parents. I will wish to have great education.
YES! WE SHOULD HAVE LONGER SCHOOL YEAR AND I’M A STUDENT….
Hi! Glad to get your opinion about extending the school year. It seems that some kids in the US are against extending the school year but there are benefits to spending more time in school. It is true that many countries are more educated than the US and most of them have a longer school day and a longer school year! I am sure you are as smart (or even smarter
than your parents.) What was your parent’s education in India like? How is your school experience going so far this year?
I disagree with this!!!!! because i think that the kids are going to feel overworked and they are going to give up.Also,the parents will have to pay more for air conditioning in the summer and for a longer school yearr.Do catholic schools have to go by this rule?Why do we have to be punished because other people in America arent doing well and dropping out of school??
no you shouldn’t because i dont want to
My question is directed towards Brandon. How would extended school years not affect those who attend Private Schools?
Agreed, Chris. I’m currently a Freshman at a Charter school and it would certainly affect us. We’re having a debate in my success class about it. I’m unsure. Maybe we can make school years a little longer like a month but not so much as pretty much eliminating summer vacation. I think students need at least a month to relax. Just my opinion.
I believe that exstending the school day is the way to go because i want to take a whole bunch of electives but i never have enough room on my schedule. But at the end of the day i am very tired because Triad high school starts at 7:10 a.m. and i have to get up at 5 to catch the bus. it would be nice if our school started later and was lenghtened but not the school year because i agree with bobbi we the students would feel over worked.
well i disagree, i totally dislike the idea of being at school longer. yet there are programs out there that will help kids learn during the summer vacation that way they wouldn’t completely forget everything. and also it all depends on the quality of teaching and learning. in my opinion most teachers teach in their own ways. maybe teachers should make us more interested than wanting to give up.
i disagree with all of this. People who dont do good in school isnt everybodys fault! those people probaly dont even want to learn they do it on their own. people who do good shouldnt hav to stay extra time those who do bad should just go to summer school or get held back dont make the good students who do good suffer for their mistake! extending the school year is a bad idea i am a student i’m in national junior honor society and i seee kids everyday horse playing and not learning but its no ones fault but their own! just send the kids somewhere else but dont extend the school year or hours! it affects everyone own time i’m also a actress and i dont hav enough time for all my rehearsals or clean at home or anything else we barely hav enough time as it is!
Extended days at my school has brought to my attention that it is pointless to do, because we are always tired and do not learn at the end of the day.
extended days are really pointless because all we do is work work work! it gets tiring! and also on the extended parts we dont do anything but reading instead of learning whats the point?! its just wasting our time and makes no sense. i want shorter hours!
I don’t agree with extending the school year. As stated in this article it would increase the budget to 20 billion which we do not have the luxury to afford, especially where I live in California. Also most of the money would probably go towards core classes ( i.e English, Mathematics, Science) whereas most students enjoy electives which are struggling at the moment already. Students need to get away from the strenuous demands of teachers and parents to enjoy themselves a little with art or music, or even after school activities. As a fellow student a freshman in High School I find that what you learn outside of school is far more important in the ‘real world’. Also forcing students into a longer school year may cause a breakout of rebellion and less students actually trying, therefore badly affecting the test scores that we ridiculously value so much. In my English class we are to write an essay on this topic stating what side we favor, I certainly am against lengthening the school year and think many of my peers agree would agree with me.
I actually agree that we should ave longer school years because we get to learn more stuff than before.
I personally believe that there are both good and bad sides to both opinions. extending the school year could cause students to loose interest in there studies. The extra work may also cause more stress at home. Benefits of extending the school year would be that students could learn more and possibly receive higher marks on standardized tests like the EOG and MEAP exams. i think the way to solve this would be to evaluate each student a determine weather that student could benefit from 5 more days of school somewhat like the process for summer school. i personally believe that there is no point to having school after end of year exams. our school usually just watches movies after our EOG’s are finished. I try to strive to be the best i can in my studies but some may not be as gifted as myself and may need the extra 5 days of school.
One of the things that seems to fall through the crack in this discussion is the impact on retention of a three month summer vacation. At least through the first eight grades, much of September and October is spent relearning materials forgotten over the summer. It may be that if we spread the 12 week vacation evenly throughout the year, limiting breaks to three to four weeks, we could get most of the educational gains expected from a longer school year without the added costs of increasing the number of days significantly.
i strongly believe that schools should not have longer school days or years because it causes even more stress that kids have already there is no need to give them more along with lack of sleep
i hate longer school days and years they can not cause more stress. it cost even more money than normal
I understand why we need more school time the United States is not as much as other contries and it would help educate us giving a better life although it wouuld be alot of moeny because teachers feel like they should have more moeny, the cost of air conditioning, school activities, etc… it would come to 20 billion dollars for the annuel cost. But I would enjoy a month of summer to relax and if there is childrren that need/feel like they need more school time get a tutor or go to summer school.
i love to have more then 9 hours of school each day i think school is amazing and i love school because school is fun but school is kinda scared because kids like to bully you in school!!!!!!!!!!! COOL I LOVE SCHOOL SO MUCH YEA YEA YEA!!!!!!!
omg why dnt u guys like school school is fun
Are you serious ?? we are talking about opinions about whether or not schools should be extended or not, and your saying that you love school and all ? that’s ausome i suppose that you love school but really? in this topic.? i agree with school hours or days not being extended because yes lack of sleep tiredness, and over stress also as well as over studying or overworking, the activities, and yeah students with that but what about the teachers? how will they feel they will go threw the same thing of how students will go through.
I think that lengthening the school year is a wonderful idea. I am doing a debate in my advanced honors language arts class, and I think that the lack of education that we are getting in America is quite sad. We are so far behind in the competition of education that it makes you wonder what our country will be like when we are adults and running it! I am all for lengthening the school year, and I hope that we can improve our educational scores as a whole.
And yes, the debate is on this topic
I believe it is a good and bad thing. It takes away family vacations and free time away from homework and teachers. Many teens would be more likely to drop out. It would be very stressful and irritating to many students, including parents. Most students are tired at the end of just one school day! It would increase the government’s budget to 20 billion dollars. School is already difficult and challenging as it already is. It is pointless because by the end of the day, students don’t learn much. But…Extending the school year would help students remember everything they learned the year before. It will help students finish their years of school faster and the students will not have to endure all the hardships of continuous years of homework and drama. It will keep the children safe when their parents are gone at work. The United States is lacking education needed because we are so far behind compared to other countries. I think the government should keep the school year exactly as it is because many students, like myself, would be upset with this plan. The government could take away Presidents’ Day and Columbus Day without having to extend the school year. They could also shorten Christmas vacation. No one would want to waste their summer by going to school. Right? Just my opinion.
I as a student disagree with this policy i don’t care what other people think of agreeing with this policy. Like many other students get tired of school older people should understand how we feel about school. if other students agree with this then make special schools for them, and let us who disagree not get extended days in school!!! Many children in this young age have been deciding of quitting school this young by the fact that we get to do so much work in school and they want to extended even more and it will be more work or us. United States will be getting poorly on students from going to universities or colleges by the fact that we have gotten tired of school already!!!!!!!
I know that most people here think that it is a terrible thing to lengthen the school year but even though I myself am a student, I don’t think that it’s that big of a deal…I mean yeah everyone thinks school is sooo hard but maybe if we actually had more time to work in class we would understand things better and not be so stressed out all of the time. Lengthening the school day means more time for education, not homework.
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