phildozer9121
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I think sports are as important, as the other aspects of education.
Part of the problem with school performance is that the students don't spend enough time in the classroom. Shortened school weeks may save beleaguered districts money, but it will lead to further performance issues down the road. Maybe these schools should think about cutting some of their sports programs instead.
Students don't spend enough time in the classroom? I don't know about other states but in Maryland I believe the average school day is about seven hours a day.
The ful article can be found here
The idea is that cutting a day out of an American student's school week is a good stopgap measure for townships that are hemorrhaging money.
Just wanted to hear your opinions.
There should be more classroom time, not less, and extra-curricular activities should also not be affected. I agree with Orion, Education should be the absolute last place cuts should occur
I agree with this, but if the school system is going to be targeted, it is better that extra-curricular activities are targeted first, before the education system's core functions.
I was under the assumption that most of these plans to cut a day off classes also included an increase in the school day for the four remaining days. Is that not the case, I really havent kept up on it. But personally I think a 4 day week would be fine, give kids more time off the schedule while hopefully not losing too many hours.
The question is, however, what will those kids do on that fifth day while their parents have to go to work? The parents are going to have to either pay babysitters to watch those kids, which will put a financial burden on those parents, or take them to more public programs, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, which will stretch the limits of those resources, and so they'll likely demand more public money.
Students don't spend enough time in the classroom? I don't know about other states but in Maryland I believe the average school day is about seven hours a day. Because of that, students rarely have time to participate in extra curricular activities and keep up on homework. I disagree with the sports programs because (a) it brings in money (although it does depend) and (b) it gives students and opportunity to develope their schools, learn to be leaders, succeed outside the classroom, and let them have fun. I agree student's education should be their number one priority but they shouldn't have to hate their life all throughout the time they go to school.
It should be pointed out that many elite private schools, with a high percentage of graduates who go on to Ivy League colleges, have shorter school days than the average public school.
Most of the upper-tier private schools, at least in my city, get out at noon on Fridays (I believe this is to allow for weekend travel), have many more days off/ holidays than public schools, and also let out for summer a couple of weeks earlier than public schools.
They also have parents that give a damn.
I attended one; there are many students in such schools who do not have ideal family lives.
I remember a talk my dad and I had when i was in second or third grade.
I was wondering why i didn't have as many toys- as much material stuff- as most of my classmates.
My dad explained to me that some parents work all the time and don't play with or spend time with their children, and so they buy them a bunch of stuff to try to make up for that, because they feel guilty about it.
That rang very true to me. I totally understood it, even at age seven, and from then on I felt sorry for these children who boasted constantly about their toys and expensive clothes, rather than envying them.
Many of the parents of the children at my school worked constantly. Many traveled for work. A lot of my classmates only saw their fathers sporadically, on weekends.
Even if it were true that every child who attends public school comes from an uncaring family, I fail to see how having a longer school day would compensate them for this fact, in any way.
It should be pointed out that many elite private schools, with a high percentage of graduates who go on to Ivy League colleges, have shorter school days than the average public school.
Most of the upper-tier private schools, at least in my city, get out at noon on Fridays (I believe this is to allow for weekend travel), have many more days off/ holidays than public schools, and also let out for summer a couple of weeks earlier than public schools.
Do you actually know that the kids are at their desks learning in those 7 hours? From what I've seen, they're not.
First, there is the additional recess to combat "childhood obesity." :roll: I seriously think I've only seen 2-3 fat kids in my son's school of 900.
Then there are the half days so the teachers can have some sort of meeting in the afternoon. These happen once, sometimes twice a month.
Don't forget that the month of September is generally dedicated to reviewing the stuff learned the previous year and lost over the 2 and a half month summer holiday.
Field Trips are all day. I appreciated the field trip to the state capital, but the all day snow boarding was kind of a joke IMO. It's great for my kid who is ahead of the game academically, but I have no idea why that's important to the student body as a whole.
Don't forget for every crappy or not-so-crappy holiday, there has to be a classroom party complete with cupcakes, soda and all sorts of garbage I'd never feed my kid.
Before every week off (and there are 4 full ones during the school year), there's a Friday off and a Thursday half day. Because it's a shortened week before a vacation, the kids and teachers aren't into a full workload, so it's a puff week. There's usually no homework that week.
I liked the 2 week computer rotation where the big project was having the kids draw pictures with a mouse.
And then there was the half day dedicated to watching a dress rehearsal of the high school play.
IMO the public school systems (all of 'em) have problems with money because they mismanage funds. Threatening to cut the school week down to 4 days is just posturing IMO.