Would longer hours at school help?

[Saucycarpdog]

With the concerns about education in america now a days, its been suggested that we should extend school hours or lessen summer vacation time. What I want to know is, do you agree?

Do you think we should put more hours of time to work in? If that did happen, how would it affect you?

EDIT: Darn you poll. Why did you disappear on me?

 

[greatman32]

Being in school I cant really see extending it helping at all. Most of my time is already wasted sitting around doing nothing in school. If we are to truly enrich our education experience, we need to make better use of the time we have.

 

[Kurai Angelo]

In my opinion they should make classes shorter if anything.

Back when I was at school I lost count of the times we were essentially given a bunch of crap to do to just fill the alloted time. Shortening classes would increase the importance of getting to the point a lot quicker. Also you can then cover more subjects in one day with shorter periods of time spent on each.

 

[Cazza]

Extending won't help. School is long enough. When I was at school most kids would get bored and switch off before lunch. If you shorted the day and focued on short bursts of learning I believe kids would do better.

That would mean less time overall so a lot of the crap would need to be taken out. Don't say it's not there. I spend 1 whole term learning about outdated farming in England. Why does an Australian need to know that?

 

[matoasters]

Classes should be longer, so theres more time to actually discuss a topic, but the length of the day should remain the same. Also, summer vacation should be a lot longer.

 

[legend of duty]

only way extended would work if they had trade school or a required real life skills class which would be focused solely on subjects like "how to eat cheap as hell without dying of scurvy" "how to fill out a resume or a job application" "how to wash clothes" "how to iron clothes" the sad thing is many of my classmates many advanced placement admit to not knowning how to do these things.

 

[Caligulust]

It just turns into more time to waste.

I'm not sure how more school would improve schooling as it is, for us. The stance is that it's in a miserable state. Adding more doesn't fix anything, it's just more mediocrity on top of what we have. It would be more worthwhile to improve the quality, but that's easier said than done. It also sounds as if there's little money to do either.

 

[gabe12301]

I'm in the US so I think we should stop asking for stuff until we can afford it.

 

[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.

 

[Drexlor]

More time in school would help nobody. I'm almost driven insane by June as it is. There is too much work for the sake of work. The time we already have is just being wasted. One of the best teachers I've ever had was my AP US History teacher last year. During class she actually taught us and we had much less work than any other class I was in because we had actually learned the material in class. Without even studying for the AP exam I earned a 4, which is equivalent to an A- in the corresponding college course. Effective and efficient, the way all classes should be, but most fail at being either.

 

[Berethond]

Longer school hours won't help a bit until we fix the underlying issues affecting the school system as-is.

The way I see it, there's no way to fix the current system without a 100% overhaul anyways.

 

[SixWingedAsura]

Work smarter, not harder.

We don't need longer school hours, we need a better lesson plan.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

If I was still a kid, I'd be all for longer days, if it also meant that my summer vacation would be longer.

That's how I do most things... I like to get the undesirable out of the way, so that I can enjoy the ensuing free time without worry.

 

[dancinginfernal]

Work smarter, not harder.

We don't need longer school hours, we need a better lesson plan.

I agree with this. Too focused on prepping students for state testing that controls their budget, rather than just teaching students what they need to know.

Also, I'd rather like if school started later, and ended later. That, however, is a school specific issue.

 

[twistedmic]

I think decreasing class sizes, and maybe shortening class length, coupled with assuring that the teachers are both competent and passionate enough to actually teach, would be a far bigger help than simply making school hours longer.

 

[IrradiatedFish]

In short, my answer is no. My long answer is what I'm posting below. Someone from this exact forum posted this last year (I'd give mention to them if I could remember their username).

Anyway, I whole heartedly agree with the following video. Give it a look-see if you're interested.

Spoiler: Click me!

 

[Wodan]

Longer school days wont fix the problem. IMO we need some fundamental changes. Kids need to start getting interested in school and start to bringing home the learning experience (other than HW). Kids need to supplement their at school learning with time spent at home with educational tools. This is where parents need to step up. I know actually doing things with your kids is a novel idea for parents, but if you want your child to learn you need to get involved.

Also less of a focus on memorizing and test taking would help as well. Switch the focus to actually learning and making learning fun. Kids need to be doing math in math class then coming home and playing math games with their parents.

Again, parents need to step up and take responsibility for their child education. That is a part of raising a child responsibly.

 

[Ham_authority95]

With the concerns about education in america now a days, its been suggested that we should extend school hours or lessen summer vacation time. What I want to know is, do you agree?

Do you think we should put more hours of time to work in? If that did happen, how would it affect you?

EDIT: Darn you poll. Why did you disappear on me?

Lessen summer vacation- That could do well. But then again, I wouldn't have any time to work full time and actually have money to spend. Maybe if the schools gave me a hundred or so every month, I would be fine. Plus, I like to relax every one and a while. Eliminating them would drive me insane.

Make days longer- I don't feel like getting up at 7, then getting home any later than 4:30.

Make classes compelling with cool teachers and student input from early grades- That would work better than any increase in school time.

 

[twistedmic]

Work smarter, not harder.

We don't need longer school hours, we need a better lesson plan.

I agree with this. Too focused on prepping students for state testing that controls their budget, rather than just teaching students what they need to know.

Also, I'd rather like if school started later, and ended later. That, however, is a school specific issue.

When does school start for you/ in you area?
Out here in Oklahoma school starts mid to late August and ends sometime in May, which I think is totally stupid. And back home in Virginia (in the coastal areas at least) school didn't start until the second week of September or so and ended in the second week of June ( just before the prime tourist season). So when I was in school in Virginia, school started and ended at a reasonable time of the year, while in Oklahoma it started and ended at a stupid time of the year.

 

[Raideh]

Cleaned.