Should the school day be extended (in U.S.)?

Question

I'm in a debate, and the current topic is "Should the school day be extended by 2 hours (to match the workday)? Why or why not?


I have to argue for the side that it Should be extended. The only reason I can find for this is that, firstly, it'll increase test scores.
Also, it'll help us keep pace with other, smarter, countries that already have 8-hour school days.

I need points about why it should be extended. Please don't give me reasons why you think it shouldn't.

I'll give 10 points to the person I think has the best reason.

Jetgirly, you asked if I have references for higher test scores.

I actually do, but it isn't that great. There was an experiment done somewhere (I don't feel like taking out the paper with the specifics), in which extending the school hours raised average test scores by about 6%, which isn't significant.

Answer 1

a longer school day would allow students to stay in class longer, therefore learning more, therefore boosting their test scores.

or, which would be a better benefit, an extended school day would give students more options to take as classes. i know for me i have no choice of an elective this year unless i wanted to drop a core class. a longer day would help students in my school, like me, who want an elective but they don't have the time in their schedule.

an extended school day could also lead to a study hall period which would help students get higher grades (guaranteeing they get their homework done) and get better test grades because it can be a time for clinic or a time to study

______

one con about a longer school day is athletes. At my school, we start at 7:33 am, end at 2:!5 and sports are from 3:00 - 5:00 (sometimes even 2:30) . if the school day is extended, it cuts into their homework time and causes them to have to be up longer, making thier grades suffer. this actually goes for anyone with an extra-curricular activity.

another con to an extended school day is that there might not be enough things for the students to do... they can take more classes, therefore some classes will become larger.


so far thats all i can th ink of.. hope it elps

Answer 2

Yes. But decrease the amount of work after school a student is expected to do to further match the work day - and stop long summers. Do three weeks on, one week off throughout the year. That would make it a LOT easier to manage home care for a lot of families.

Why? Because the more society changes to require both parents to work full time, the more time children are left alone in the current system - the result is a lack of structure and a lack of appreciation for the time families have to spend together.

And further - I was a teacher. I know how much they get (over) paid in many cities. Make them earn their full time earnings by working full time!

Fact: After three months of being a teacher I had all my lesson plans done for the rest of the year, could hand out work and at 3pm was OUT the door... And was getting $800 a week for less than 30 hours a week. That's a STARTING pay of $26 an hour - and the whining about how hard it is is not realistic. I know from the inside.

Make the schools earn the money the staff and teachers get paid, let the kids know what kind of hours are ahead for them in the real world, give the families a chance to make enough money to keep their lives on track.

Answer 3

The idea is to have you in school longer so you retain more information. You loose a lot of what you learned in school over the 3 month break. So the first part of the school year is often refreshers and reviews that cut into valuable time in which you should be learning something new. And with this whole "no child left behind" act passed a few years ago, schools have to show steady and improving test scores in order to retain federal funding for the school. Some states even have year round school now. They are in school for roughly 3 months and get about a month off. They have found that the students respond better, and don't tend to loose what they have learned as much over the shorter, but more frequent breaks, like those in traditional public schools. When I finished high school in the mid-west 11 years ago, we started the week before labor day and were out the last week of May or first week of June depending upon snow days. ______________________________ You don't need that much more school? Yes you do. So you go to the "smartest" school. Big deal. Those schools still have students that are just average or that fail. You could be one of them for all I know. I'm sure your very smart for your age, and probably do pretty good in school. But making a statement like that shows a lack of maturity and foresight. You need to take your education seriously instead of acting like it's and inconvenience!

Answer 4

Do you actually have REFERENCES that prove that longer school days result in higher test scores? It seems to me that it could be argued that if the students are tired and bored all day, they'll learn even less! You'd better get some references (articles, books, etc) proving your point there. Also, how do you measure the "intelligence" of a country? Standardized tests? What about human rights? What about love of learning? This is what is commonly called a slippery slope!

One reason that some people want the school day extended is so that working parents don't have to pay for daycare or leave their children alone after school.

You could argue that when students spend more time together as a group they develop their social skills. Of course, you'd have to find research proving this.

You could also say that a longer school day would allow students to attend more DIFFERENT classes, so they would be exposed to diverse areas of study and have the chance to participate in more programs that interest them.

Answer 5

I have reasons for both why and why not...

Being a teacher, there is never enough time in the school day to accomplish everything that needs to be done. Take iinto consideration the time that students have lunch and recess, physical education and other "special" areas (library, computers, etc.) or even those that need to be pulled out for speech, physical therapy or occupational therapy. Our present school day after these times alone is down from 6 hours to maybe four to four and a half hours. My school district recommends 2 1/2 hours for language arts (reading, language, and spelling) and 1 hour for math. There is still time needed for teaching science, social studies, handwriting....and all the other little things that are required. When adding up, time may seem okay, but consider all the teaching moments, or even interruptions that break up the day, time is then lost.

In retrospect, I feel like we need more quality time in the classroom, not quantity. We spend too much time teaching to tests and not teaching children. Creativity in the classroom has been lost.

Answer 6

I think it ought to. More for the way America has progressed. Moms aren't available to pick up kids anymore - every adult works. Nor are Dads.

The only thing that's keeping schools hours 7-3 is the day care industry. They'll go bust w/o it. Many people I know spend WAY more on daycare than school - so funnel that money into school. Day care workers will find other jobs. Babysitting and Nannying will never go away.

I don't have a child, but two of my siblings do, and they spend a LOT of money on day care.

Answer 7

I don't think the day should be extended but I DO think the school year should be extended, they should go to school until July, and have August off only. They don't need June, July and August off too, its too long. By the end of July they're board and the parents still have to go to work, we don't get all those months off and summer camp isn't even open that long. Not only that if they are away too long they become complacent and lazy. And even if they were who can afford it? Except the well to do, of which I'm not.

Answer 8

My school district is on a 7-hour day for students. Anyway, here are some possible arguments:
1) could this reduce the number of DAYS in school? if so, it would save school districts a lot of money on heating, food, transportation costs, etc.
2) if the actual instructional time would increase, I'd argue that we'd be able to compete better in a global economy--throw a bunch of statistics at them about how much better other countries are doing in math, science, engineering, medicine, etc.
3) perhaps there would be more time in the school day for struggling students to receive one-on-one help

Answer 9

I think that the school day should be extended because knowledge is now expanding exponentially. At no time in history has there been such a tremendous growth in knowledge. It is very difficult to teach all the facts and figures and ideas in a five or six hour school day. Our country now rates 27th in the world in education. In order to compete kids need to spend more time in class. Already major corporations are dependent on recruiting employees in technological areas from other countries due to our educational systems failings.Our country cannot remain a world power if we cannot compete in technological areas. Good luck in your debate. (you need to be familiar with the both the pro and the con of this argument because you need to discredit the con side of the arguement in a debate).

Answer 10

students in school should not have so much work up on them
they are children not adults!

(you have to concider all ages, from K-6 esp)

I would bet for the school year to be extended, with a six week school vacation. Other countries that do well academically have school for around a similar amount of time.

A longer day is not only harder for some students, but after school activities, work and other commitments in children's lives have to be considered.

longer school year, same school day!!
horray!!