4-day school week?

[Simon Bar Sinister]

don't know if it's being talked about in Michigan yet, but a bill putting it into effect has passed the Illinois state House.

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2118008,four-day-school-0323.article

thoughts?

[Soulrev]

Yeah anything to make America more ignorant.

[synthier]

1. What happens on the 5th day when single Mom or Dad has to go to work... and little Timmy has no school. Who's gonna cover the cost of childcare?

2. Who expects a modern-day kid to pay attention for an even longer period of time? Nevermind that humans aren't designed to be focused for 10 hours straight... especially the shorter ones with disproportionately larger heads.

3. rilly, r cuntry iz dum enuff neway.

[StormKnight (1)]

This is so antithetical to what I believe should happen with education.

[freydis]

[torn asunder]

1. What happens on the 5th day when single Mom or Dad has to go to work... and little Timmy has no school. Who's gonna cover the cost of childcare?

2. Who expects a modern-day kid to pay attention for an even longer period of time? Nevermind that humans aren't designed to be focused for 10 hours straight... especially the shorter ones with disproportionately larger heads.

3. rilly, r cuntry iz dum enuff neway.

only thing i disagree with is this - "Nevermind that humans aren't designed to be focused for 10 hours straight", because 1) they don't focus that long, there are breaks, and lunch. they focus for what, 50 min. at a stretch? 2) not a lot of difference between 8-10 hrs, imo.

but yeah, the daycare issue, is huge! i mean, wtf can parents do then?

[TygerLili]

For high school and middle school aged children, this might not be so bad, because they would probably be happy to have the extra day to sleep in and do other things. Also, in most cases, kids that age are able to take care of themselves when mom and dad are at work on that extra day.

For elementary school children, this would not work at all. Children that age definitely can't focus on learning for long periods of time, so they would be taking more frequent breaks, and therefore would be spending less time in the classroom. Also, as someone mentioned, it would cause childcare nightmares.

It would also make it difficult for the school to have after school extracurricular activities like sports or music practice, and would make it difficult for students to have after school jobs.

[synthier]

only thing i disagree with is this - "Nevermind that humans aren't designed to be focused for 10 hours straight", because 1) they don't focus that long, there are breaks, and lunch. they focus for what, 50 min. at a stretch? 2) not a lot of difference between 8-10 hrs, imo.

Well, I was being slightly facetious, but, not entirely. While I want to avoid making huge statements (without the appropriate cautions that internet forums seem to require...), I do feel the need to say that classrooms "these days," particularly in the poorer sections, are somewhat out of control. While a number of things play into that, our current culture has likely influenced how long people are able to and how long they expect to, pay attention. Speaking with teachers who have been on the job for decades, I have heard stories of the changes in kids' attention spans. Whether that reflects genuine change in ability or merely learned expectation for attention or simply cynicism, is another matter. Moreover, humans aren't machines, and even an adult's attention wanes at the 20-minute mark (or another number, depending on the source. But it's short.) Regardless, this legislation is assuming we can just get more of what we already don't have: kids' attention. That concerns me. As for the difference between 8 and 10 hours/day, I guess that's a matter of opinion. I feel the difference working an 8-hour day vs. a 10-hour day (or more), but others may not. (I wish that stopped me from working a 10-hour day.)

I think TygerLili makes a good point about the potential impact on older vs. younger kids. However, I'm still scared for what this will do for older kids, as to me, this change seems to put more responsibility on them... and I believe in setting up for success, rather than making failure even easier. Sad face. Not where I'd like to see our education system headed, either.

As a side note, when I was in grade school in another state, I remember local politicians proposing that kids go to school year-round. Seeing something like this get approved is kind of shocking to me... when I read the headline "4-day school week," I thought I would see "but go to school year-round" in the same sentence. Nope.

[TitsMcGee]

They've been doing that up here in some schools for the past semester because the district can't afford to keep them open for 5 days a week. It seems to be working out well, and most daycares are giving a deal for just that one day since they are getting an influx of people. Also family members step up and watch the kids, such as grandma.