So there is some debate about this subject here in the USA, and just wondering your opinions on it.

Some ideas are under way talking about how kids need more schooling here in the US, whether it be under the form of longer school days, or more school days or both. Do you think either or both of these ideas would be good? why or why not?


My take (disclaimer: I attend a private university and have no kids, so this decision will not immediately effect me): I think adding an hour or two to the school day would be great as the classes could increase from 45 mins on average to one hour, and that other 15 minutes can be huge for a teacher. Any more than that and i worry that kids would not participate in sports or extra-curricular school activities anymore.

As to getting rid of summer vacation, I like having it as it reduces stress levels and gives the kids something to look forward to. its already been reduced to about a 2 month long break anyways so its not that big. Also in my opinion the replacement of summer break with smaller and more breaks throughout the year doesnt work for me. a one or two day break just doesnt give you the break/rest that you need and you really dont feel like youve been away for long.

What are your opinions on the matter?

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I would be up for longer school hours. Just an extra hour or so on added onto the day would suffice. Anything that might promote learning is always beneficial. More learning means more understanding.

While I was at college, we had extra-curricular activities on a Wednesday afternoon. There was a wide range of activities to choose from and it was mandatory that we choose at least one of these. I find that these learning courses, the vast majority of them are group activities, provide a light-hearted approach to learning without being too involved. They also may make students worry about any exams which may exist.

As for holidays/vacations, I prefer them as they are. If a break lasts for too long, I tend to forget a lot of material that has been covered, especially when it comes to the in-depth courses at uni.

These are only opinions based on my school experiences.

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How many hours a day are we talking about here?

When I went to school back home, it was 8h a day, 5.5-6 days a week. Having said that we still found enough time for sports and/or other activities. But I'd say 6-7h a day, 5 days a week would be sufficient. And maybe one weekend day for mandatory activity somewhat like what db said. But I am sure a weekend working day is not quite possible in America xD

And talking of vacations, a 2month break during summer, and 2-3weeks in winter(like there was winter) is what I got, and I think in most places it depends on the weather etc. Ideally 3months around the year would be nice.

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I don't know if more schooling is the answer. If anything at all, kids need better schooling. Curriculae around the world have grown so much, to include so much more information these days, that kids can barely cope with it.

The system needs to be reoriented to skills acquisition education and purged of all the useless crap kids learn in schools these days.

I quit teaching but i did teach for about 4 years and stopped in June this year. I always thought teaching facts was useless, especially in science. I always strove to teach as many skills as i could and using facts only to get them thinking, but it's a tough job.

Come to think about it, no wonder nobody wants to teach anymore, it's stressful as hell and the pay is lousy.

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... this whole more school thing 1) hurts my brain and 2) horrifies me.

I stay at school from like..i dunno 6:30 am to 4pm already, spending about...3-4 hours after/before school studying/finishing work, i even have an extra class afterschool... I use up every bit of my time (im even studying through lunch and leave my lunch halfeaten -_-) adding on more school time would just take away from my time that i can work on hw/projects

some/acouple of my teachers wont let me work on hw in class -_- even if we're not doing anything...so I'd rather they not have more time to waste atm... no offense to teachers :) just the ones of mine that wont let me do hw are kinda wasting my valuable time....

for most of my classes, the 45 min is enough for them to get all of the lesson in. and from my point of view? most of us are just counting minutes till we can get out of class already....

at my school, sports and extracurriculars already take up a huge amount of time after school. they run nonstop from when school ends (2ish) to 10 pm (games, varsity, jv, practices, time for studying/hw, clubs, tutoring, extra afterschool classes,...etc)

there would be no time in the day to add more class time...unless the schools decide that every student must stay up till 1-4 am to finish work (i have friends that pull allnighters..even during the first week of school)

i think..it would depend on the school...some schools have the extra time, my school? we're packed filled with activities all 7 days a week (even weekends..., games, planning for events...)

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I had a 7-hr school day when I was in secondary and spent another couple of hours in the evening doing homework, which steadily grew as I advanced to higher years. I didn't feel too pressurised nor did I find it a stroll so I think the amount of work set, and the duration of the school day, was fine. We had 40 minute lessons in general, which were doubled up to 80 minutes for some subjects and in Sixth Form, and these longer lessons allowed the teacher to explain and clarify the subject in more depth. We also had timetabled sessions for sport and also optional extra-curricular activities after school.

I don't know how long the school day in the US is, but I think making it any longer than 8 hours would be putting too much pressure on the kids and be counter-productive to their learning. 2.0 made a very good point that, if it is thought that kids are lacking in education, the quality of the education, by means of changing the curriculum, should be looked at, rather than simply increasing the schooling hours.

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I see what you mean with this. I've always thought that teachers should be better paid to encourage people with good skills to be teachers. Instead, there's a bit of a feeling of "Plans not working out for you? There's always TEACHING!" recently... and I don't think that it should be that way. People are being offered additional cash incentives to train to become maths and science teachers, because there aren't enough people wanting to do the job. Doing the job itself should be enough of an incentive.

I say no to more school hours per day. I don't think that more of the same will do a whole lot of good, six hours seems about right to me... that's taking six hours as the norm, I don't know what school hours are in other places. I think that having the long holidays as a milestone and to separate the school years is good, too.

Another idea which I've heard discussed is having compulsory education in the UK up until the age of 18... might as well bring that up. Seems very pointless to me, I'd have thought that by 16 there are a lot of people dying to get out and work, already knowing a trade or career which they want to be getting into...

I think the idea is ridiculous! I do not want my kids practically being raised by their teachers. I would hardly get to see them at all if they had school from 7am until 5pm every day and no summer break! I love spending time with my children (usually ) and I would only have like 2 maybe 3 hours to spend with them before they go to bed every day? That just doesn't work for me. MAYBE an extra hour added on would be ok IF they would not have homework (whats the point of homework anyway?...they go to SCHOOL to learn why do they have to take it home too?).

I agree with what has been said that quality more than quantity needs to be addressed here. More school time is not the answer!!!

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