[Old School]

Education Secretary Duncan thinks our schools should be open up to 14 hours per day seven days a week, eleven to twelve months a year.

He continued by explaining that the American school calendar is antiquated and must be modified so that American students can compete at the highest levels internationally.

“Most people realize that our current day is based on the agrarian economy, and we don’t have too many kids working out in the fields nowadays,” Duncan said. “Schools in countries that are beating us are going to school 25-30 days more than us. If you practice basketball five times a week, you’re gonna be better than the people who practice three times a week.”

http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/28/educat...school-yea

[UKisN1]

Some of this is true.

[PC_You_Know]

So we should go to school from 8AM till 10PM? Wow. When do kids spend time with their parents? When do kids play sports?

[Deathstar 80]

You would have to be careful with stress. Kids already have school, homework, and after-school activities. You could add more hours for schoolwork (which would lower the amount of homework anyway), but I would definitely be careful about putting too much stress on kids. Too much stress can cause health problems.

[Jarons]

So we should go to school from 8AM till 10PM? Wow. When do kids spend time with their parents? When do kids play sports?

When would teachers get to see their families?

[Deathstar 80]

When would teachers get to see their families?

I completely forgot about the workers at the school. :biggrin:

[Hoot Gibson]

Although I strongly disagree with subjecting students or teachers to longer workdays, our schools should be better utilized. As much money that is spent on school buildings and other facilities, it would make good sense to keep them open longer hours.

Instead of spending millions on new schools, why not stagger the starting times and calendars for students and teachers so that more of them can use existing facilities without overcrowding? I see nothing wrong with maintaining an 8 hour day for students and teachers within a 14 hour time frame. More resources could be devoted to teaching children instead of the bricks and mortar on which politicians love to spend money.

[Deathstar 80]

If you did increase school hours, you would have to have a few small breaks during the day. I really think the amount of stress should be considered in this.

[nky]

Who's going to pay for this? Another Federal Government mandate to the states? Doubling the work day, adding another 70-90 days to the calender not counting weekends. That's tens of million in salaries for both certified and classifies employees per district. Is the administration talking out of their well you know where. Making comments without knowing the full ramifications seems to be a trend in the administration

[Old School]

States are having trouble with school budgets now, I'm not sure how they would fund either extended hours or year round school. A teachers salary is based on approx. 180 days per school year. By going to a year round schedule the amount instruction days would rise to nearly 240 days.