Today President Obama announced that he would be in favor of an extended school year. He didn't say specifically how much longer the year would be or what the school hours would be, but it's an interesting topic that will be heavily debated...especially amongst educators and current students! There are certainly two schools of thought here. The data shows that a country like China, which has a school week of 6 days, has produced more successful students. The US in some instances is outsourcing for jobs which allows them to pay less but also get more qualified candidates. Studies in the US have shown that a 4 day work week yields the best working results. I think it comes down to the individual and the expectations that are set at a young age. I was taught that if you wanted to accomplish your goals that hard work was the key. I'm not sure going to school MORE would have yielded me better results as opposed to the results I was able to achieve. It's definitely a great topic for debate. The DVD "One Million Minutes" helps explain this topic a little better.
After the amount that I worked in high school, a longer school year sounds absolutely terrifying! I worked my butt off in high school, and I couldn't imagine having to do even more work! Like I said during a lot of our LC discussions, it's all about the students. YOU choose whether you want to excel or just slide by. I think that the school year isn't the problem in our country. It's our media that's making us more dumb. Afterall, students in China aren't watching Jersey Shore. It's proven that TV makes us less smart, let's confront that first. We need to evaulate how we can make our nation's children smarter while still giving them the weekend to rest and relax. I'm also disturbed at the amount we've decided, as a nation, to eliminate PE programs and recess. As a country struggling with obesity, I think that making the school week longer would only contribute more to that; think of the affect on outside sports! My childhood was full of weekend sports practices, and if I only had one day off to fit homework and sports in, I know that I would be forced to make a decision between the two. Longer school weeks just sounds like an all around terrible idea to me. Besides, as a college student looking to work in education, I think I'd be a little upset with such a long week!
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