Would longer hours at school help?

[Keepeas]

I agree with most people here.
More time in school won't help because most of the time is wasted.
Let me rewind to my last year of high school(2010):
My Senior Schedule:
1)English - mostly wasted time, but I did end up writing my best piece ever
2)Networking - mostly wasted time, by that I mean playing CS or Starcraft
3)Study Hall - not such a waste, I got a lot of work done in there
4)Government - not a complete waste of time, but there was too much work just for the sake of work
4)Economics - The easiest class I have ever taken in my life, I probably could have just come for the tests and passed, I don't understand how anybody struggled with that...I didn't even do a Project and I still got an A. Potentially useful...I guess...if you're as dumb as a rock.
5)Photography - I actually did a lot of work in that class...for other classes. Most of the time everyone would just sit around talking. Me, I did math homework.
6)Calculus BC - The best teacher I ever had. He taught us and utilized class time efficiently.

I think the problem is the quality of teaching and inefficient use of class time.

yeah 4 is listed twice..those were semester classes

 

[Smooth Operator]

Work smarter not harder my friend, they need to up the quality of education not pile in more shite.
Concentration and a rested mind are crucial to the learning process, extending the classes will only take this in the opposite direction.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

How about you just fund some schools and stop buying so many $70000000 military jets.

 

[Saulkar]

I believe that it should be shortened as someone already pointed out that many burn out before lunch. So if you could push hard for short burst I believe a lot more can be a achieved as you would have more time to keep switching topics to keep people interested instead of just random filler that serves no educational purpose.

 

[Shadu]

I highly doubt it. Longer times would probably just make the kids these days lose interest. Yes, long days and lots of school works for countries like Japan, but they are expected to do that and have a much different culture.

I agree with the posters that said we should use the time we have better and the money we have, as a country, better. If that doesn't help at all, then maybe consider extending the hours.

But the way I see it, if we suddenly decide to length the hours, not only will you have angry teachers because they must spend even more time away from their families, but you will have angry parents because you're treating their little darlings unfairly, and angry students because they just can't believe it.

I have a feeling that dropout rates would sky rocket and test scores would actually decrease because the students would either try to fight the system or stop caring all together.

I can't see it doing anything but backfiring. It's just a sign of the times I suppose. Kids these days...a whole generation, at least, practically lost. There's not to be done as of right now. Well, there's stuff we could do, but none of it will happen.

 

[Berethond]

They could just have school times at like 12 till 6, then kids would actually be awake during lessons

Nope, because I know that at least around here 2-4 is basically state naptime.

 

[Baneat]

Well, are your times shorter than countries with higher attainment?

 

[Evidencebased]

The US should reduce the time off during the summer the kids have. We currently give our kids one of the longest off periods in the world. If the US wishes to remain competitive in education we must match their educational systems and adopt whatever necessary cultural philosophy it takes to promote this, else America will continue to lag behind.

Education is a privilege too many take for granted.

Even just splitting up the summer more would help. Having several month-long vacations scattered throughout the year would reduce the amount that students forget over the summer (didn't you hate the "catch up" month September always turned into?) and still not require us to pay for a lot more school days. Honestly, I was usually pretty bored a month into summer break anyways, so I don't think this would be a miserable solution for students either.

 

[Phlakes]

Make teachers do more work for what they're payed? No.

Just no.

 

[cavemano727]

Education is more a quality over quantity thing, we need a better teaching plan, not just a longer one.

 

[Talshere]

Ill just pretext this comment with "Im British" but some of the same social problem pervade throughout our society too so....


Not really. We don't spend any less time in school really then we did in the past yet we "seem" to learn less. I say seem because its really difficult to tell due to the changing priorities.

Most schools set homework but Idk about anyone else but unless it was actually coursework as apose to homework I never did any of it. Right there thats at least an hour a day I should have been working that I didnt.

Also classes fail to engage as much as in the past. I frequently actually went to sleep in math class because I found it easy and so was bored. Here the school system failed because they had no way to move me up to the higher set because of how far behind Id fallen from being in the lower set. So here I wasted 3 or 4 hours a weeks, sleeping, when I should have been working.

We then factor in the amount of time wasted at the start of lessons to settle kids down. You can frequently lose 10-15 mins in class change over time. Thats nearly 2 hours a day gone.

Additionally you have teacher that lack the means to control the class, these classes are wasted entirely. In year 10 (age 14-15) my english class actually did nothing. Litterally nothing, because we had 2 new teachers throughout the year, neither of which could control the class. So in the end they both just sat at the front reading and would only step in if we were physically damaging the classroom or each other. Thats anouth 6 odd hours lost.



Adding extra hour might help, but so much time is wasted because of how schools are setup. This is the pervading problem. 1 kid acts up and because the teachers have no recourse to stop them you effectively lose the class for the entire duration. Rather than extending teaching time, serious attention needs to be given over to how we can reduce the wasted time in the teaching day. This will artificially boost teaching time far more than an extra hour a day would.

 

[Watchmacallit]

Longer would be worse. Kids don't want to be at school, make it longer and it becomes even worse. Ditching classes will occur more frequently and kids will concentrate less as the day drags on.

 

[Rule Britannia]

If kids are dumb that's the School's fault. However if the kids are lacking sleep that's their fault. What we can all agree on is that having a class on a Monday morning shouldn't be happening, hell there should be recess first thing so it gives people time to 'fully' wake up.

 

[Loner Jo Jo]

I guess it depends on how the school runs. If there are 6 or 7 periods in a day where each class is just under an hour, then yes, they do need to extend school hours. As someone who has taught in that sort of situation, I can assure you you can get nothing done in 50 minutes. If the kids were acting up that day, then you might be lucky to get through the warm-up exercises. For the last period of the day, the final announcements would take 15 minutes, leaving me with only 35 to actually teach, and that includes the warm-up which is review, not new material. It becomes really stressful.

Now, if it's one with an even-odd day schedule where classes are closer to two hours, then I am undecided. That being said, I don't buy the argument that "we did nothing anyway." A good teacher should be able to make the most out of the time allotted, even for the students who are able to fly through their work. Of course, really I would say we have bigger fish to fry than time. It's been proven time and time again the single most important factor is the effectiveness of the teacher, but sadly many teachers aren't.

 

[Grospoliner]

The US should reduce the time off during the summer the kids have. We currently give our kids one of the longest off periods in the world. If the US wishes to remain competitive in education we must match their educational systems and adopt whatever necessary cultural philosophy it takes to promote this, else America will continue to lag behind.

Education is a privilege too many take for granted.

Even just splitting up the summer more would help. Having several month-long vacations scattered throughout the year would reduce the amount that students forget over the summer (didn't you hate the "catch up" month September always turned into?) and still not require us to pay for a lot more school days. Honestly, I was usually pretty bored a month into summer break anyways, so I don't think this would be a miserable solution for students either.

That could work. Shift a couple weeks to winter to avoid the inanity that is snow days. Place the summer break around the hottest part of the year, no extreme temperatures to interfere with school activities.

 

[Rawne1980]

School should start on a Monday morning and finish on Saturday night.

Kids would be allowed home from Saturday night to Monday morning just to give parents time to beat any kids that are still doing shit.

That was a joke folks.

I don't know about American school times but in the UK they are hardly ever there.

Half term, easter holidays, bank holidays, another half term, summer holidays and christmas holidays.

Tot all that up and out of 12 months per year kids manage a total of about 7 months at school. 2 month summer break, 1 month christmas break, 1 month total for half terms, 1 week easter holidays and about 2 weks worth of bank holidays and teacher training days.

Wish I could go back to only doing shit for 7 months a year.