Would longer hours at school help?

[crazyfoxdemon]

No it won't. I know a lot of teachers and have actually spoken with them and other people about this.. If you want to make the education system go up. You'll need better teachers. And a way to get rid of the bad.

Also, we need to stop caving into irate mothers who don't know what they are talking about. I mean seriously, one loud idiotic mother shouldn't have the power to change county policy regarding education.

 

[Sacman]

No... what we need to do is update the curriculum like 100%... than get rid of No child left behind... if they can't pass a class than it looks like they're living with their parents until they find a job...<.<

 

[RadioactiveMicrobe]

That would just encourage more sleeping.

 

[Kryzantine]

Now, as someone who just came out of a school that's an actual success story rather than a failure, I can sum up the general consensus on school schedule from the students, teachers and administrators, with a quote from one of my history teachers who just retired,

"8 to 6, Monday through Thursday. Push more homework towards the weekends, if you still need it."

Now, longer hours works, for only one reason. Most teachers need at least an hour a class in order to do anything really effectively, especially as high school goes on. I had a geopolitics teacher who loathed a 41 minute class, because he felt that geopolitics needed to be divided into 2-hour lectures, and he couldn't have anywhere close to 2 hours for each lesson. He has that time, he can probably reach out to more people - granted, most students still met the curriculum and are quite able in the art, but he felt he could improve, and if he taught at a zone school, the longer lesson times would definitely help more. My friends actually felt they weren't staying in school long enough, and that 3:30 was a very early time to be leaving. About 40% of the school routinely stayed after the last bell for some after-school group, crew, practice session, the like.

In addition to this, after-school activities should last until 9 or 10 PM, or even better, be pushed to Fridays. Days of relaxation, still within an academic sphere, but it would essentially be the students' day to do something that benefits their school or their community. Of course, this is optional.

The reason that Friday is off is very simply, really; teachers need their rest too. The biggest complaint I heard from them was that they never got the time to work their lesson plans. Having an extended school day, 5 days a week is just going to kill the teachers more than the students.

It's not a compromise, it's the only way it can work.

 

[mysecondlife]

They should do it like in Korea. One hour for each class, six hours a day. It seems to be working out well for them.

Also, they have school on Saturdays. On highschool levels they seem to divide students into 2 different categories: math/science and literature. I know one highschool that built separate building for highschool seniors so I know that they spend a lot of money on facilities...

not to mention the public libraries are the best I've ever seen.

 

[mysecondlife]

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

Just no.

Pardon the question but are you a teacher?

 

[Saelune]

No. We should change the hours to be more accomadating. You try learning while you are busy sleeping cause class starts so damn early. Also the education system is shit. Teaching badly isnt going to be more effective if you spend MORE TIME teaching BADLY.
How about focus on teaching useful knowledge, doing what you must to actually make people learn, and stop pushing people away who need to learn even more. Expelling is a stupid punishment most of the time.

 

[spartan231490]

Fuck no, summer verca was one of the few times when I managed sanity. We should eliminate overlapping or irrelevant classes is what we should do.

 

[TheTim]

Not at all, school for 5 hours a day is enough stress on my brain (i have release time)
and moreso for the full days. longer school day means more homework, and less time to do it.

 

[dave1004]

I think schools are ridiculous right now. High school should go from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, because teenagers need sleep to power their brains. It doesn't matter how much you pay attention, without sleep, you're doomed.

Extending hours wouldn't help either, kids are already bogged down with homework and other borings. They need time to play and grow, not to learn some more math.

 

[renegade7]

In my school we seem to spend way too much time doing work than learning. It breaks down as around 10% lesson, 40% classwork, and 50% dicking around waiting for the bell. If anything they need shorter days so the teachers have some impetus to make better use of the time.

 

[ultrachicken]

No, because by the end of the day over 90% of the class is going to be practically unconscious or just done with absorbing anything a teacher says to them. I think that starting school later in the day would help, but that would conflict with parents' work schedules.

 

[Nouw]

No it wouldn't. Making them work harder and give a damn would though. Giving them better teachers? Even better.

Education=Quality.

 

[Turiski]

I'm reminded of an Order of the Stick comic where V asks two shopkeepers how they manage to stay in business when they sell their potions for 2gp when the resources cost 3gp wholesale. They respond "How do we do it? VOLUME!" and launch into a long-winded explanation about how recouping profits from reduced prices by selling lots of things works? while V is screaming at them because they're effing stupid.

That said: four week, longer day, year round, possibly block scheduling (the data is mixed here) would probably get good results IF we drop these ridiculous standardized tests. And are not afraid to let elementary kids learn something, and maybe even fail grades if they don't deserve it. Maybe guarantee that a teacher won't have to teach a kid two years in a row unless they are the only one who can teach their class. Pay teachers more, teach them better, and make the hiring minimums more stringent. Don't accept teachers who teach poorly - and use a metric that is not the percentage of their damn class that they pass. Acknowledge that kids have different strengths, academically and otherwise, and use that to the advantage: whether that's tracking, or mixed-grouping, or whatever.

And somehow parents have to get involved. That's a much more complex problem to solve, especially since we live in a world where many of the parents grew up in a system that oppressed them too hard - now instead of being on the teachers' side like they almost always have been before, they stand by their kid when (s)he does something stupid.

Of course, this is all way too controversial, because how will the kids feel? Failing a class? Horrors, can you imagine the psychological damage? Everyone seems to forget that the kids have an agenda too, and if you totally ignore it they will rebel and if you actively try to cater to it too closely they'll change it to be favorable to their short-term wants. So why aren't their short term wants to learn? The truth is, learning, low-cost failure, and problem solving are fun. That's why video games work. That's why TV shows like Lost work. That's why sports work. But education doesn't seem to work. It's the trappings of freedom without the benefits, it's the incongurity between what adults say and what they do, it's the fact that nobody ever seems to care about what they have to say; that's why kids really don't invest in their education.

My 2¢. Okay, maybe more like 3¢.

 

[EcoHulk]

We tried that in Oklahoma, kids ended up being way t0 tired to do anything.

Personally, I think the problem is the kids, most of them just don't try from what I have seen.

 

[vaderaider]

No, from personal experience I can say that lesson past 1pm is pretty much wasted due to me Just being tired of school.

 

[KarlMonster]

[American here.] I'm seeing a majority of sound opinions.

1) Be more efficient, only take the time required

2) Keep them in school as long as it damn well takes. Then make them stay after.

I was one of the Super-Genius bastards that never studied but got high marks in his public school classes anyway. Although really, I think that it was because my classes were taught (if you will) to the lowest common denominator. In short: teach as if they are all "thick" and most of them should graduate. That's a sad, sad compromise between the two.

I've been asked if I had any interest in teaching. My answer was always: HELL NO! The little creeps disrespect their teachers, they don't do the required reading, submit slipshod work, and they send facebook messages during the lectures. That's just the college kids. Apparently they didn't do well in their economics class either, because they are actively cheating themselves out of the thousands of dollars being paid for their education. [Yes, I'm over-reacting a little, but not by much.]

So what do we do about this? Can we sort out the better students for advanced (more efficient) classes? Sure, but running redundant classes costs more money - despite how successful the efficient classes might be. American Conservatives have pushed hard for "vouchers" for private schools - which is a fancy 'shell game' con for having the redundant classes that cost more money anyway. But there is no guarantee that the kids that go to private schools are not "thick" - in which case they could have gone to public school and saved everyone a ton of money. [Someone might try to tell me that "vouchers" are not "money". My reply would be that they probably went to a private school. And that they are a very silly person or persons.]

The solution, for public schooling, should be to revamp the entire system and create the redundant classes. Fast-paced, shorter classes for students that actually do their work and learn. Normal classes for the rest. If this is done in a coordinated - and nationwide - basis, there are many reasons why this could be done at a net savings of time, money, and resources.

But of course, some irresponsible parent of thick-o children will sue for discrimination against thick-os.

Please note these are the same parents that buy lottery tickets.
Lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.

 

[iDoom46]

We definitely should shorten the Summer break. I just went overseas to Singapore, and when the topic of Summer break came up he was outright flabbergasted that we got "so many weeks off".

High school kids get, what, 8-10 weeks off? That's a really long-ass time! Here's an idea- break the summer vacation into smaller pieces over the year... or, even better, get rid of 2 or so weeks altogether!


As for extra hours, well... my high school started classes at 7am and classes were over at 2pm. That's barely half the day! So, yeah, a few more hours of class each day wouldn't hurt. (and don't you DARE try and argue with me over time for extracurricular activities!)

Actually, now that I think about it, school is a few hours shorter for kids at the elementary school level, right? How about we add a few hours to their school days, and maybe they won't have to spend so much time in high school re-teaching the kids the same damn stuff!