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Too Much School - Number School Hours

Too much of school

When my mom finally decided to take that plum posting as a Divisional Head, I knew I was in trouble. Her office hours stretched way beyond my school hours. And anyway, I was privy to the many discussions my parents had about 'Honey, what do we do with the kids?' Well, finally they struck gold - an educational after school program. Won't that be just grand? Kids are learning new things while parents are happily minting greenbacks! And so, we went directly to another class after our school. The brochure said that they would be 'using fun activities and innovative teaching methods to fill the gap in your child's understanding'. I suppose they meant that the teacher would write down the homework and we were to copy it. At least, this is what happened most of the time. Of course, we didn't tell our parents. How would that help? They'd simply get smart and shift us to a class that would actually make us solve our homework. I hated the classes. Mostly, I was bored to tears or falling asleep.

After so many hours at school who'd want to spend the entire afternoon with the same books? But, as a child, one had little choice in these matters. Especially when one's parents were cleverly telling one that mommy's salary will help get us that spanking new TV or that video game. Lose some, win some! Then, one day, my sister decided to rock the proverbial boat. She decided she had enough of studying and refused to go to the after school program. That's when my parents began to smell something stale. Shortly after that, they put us in a better program (O, yes, another educational one). This was bigger, brighter and somehow more fun. We had some interesting games, and a COMPUTER too. Each of us got a chance to do something on the PC (This, when PCs were just beginning to make their presence felt). We somehow managed to blaze through our homework, most of which had to be done by us. Then it was time to have fun. We had a little bit of everything. Acting classes, speech, games and of course painting.

Those hours we spent splashing color on pages and laughing at silly jokes were really the highlight of an otherwise boring day. Ironically, I began looking forward to my after school program. Now, so many years afterward, when I need to take up a job and leave my own child alone till I get back, I know how important these after school programs have become. Talk about history repeating itself! I just hope I'd get her into a good one, and yes, it's going to be educational too.

Hours School Number School Too

Learning takes time: Movement seeks to expand length of school day

There is a growing movement to expand the length of the school day in elementary and middle schools Ref. Source 4

Too Much School - Number School Hours UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

Teens benefit from later high school start times

Later high school start times are associated with positive outcomes among teens, including longer weekday sleep durations and reduced vehicular accident rates, research suggests. Ref. Source 9x.

Hours School Number School Too

I do believe that later start times should be considered for high schoolers. At that age they do function better later in the morning. 8:00 AM is extremely early for a high schooler but not so much for someone in the workforce. We should be open to anything that might enable our school children to learn more efficiently. The US public education is nowhere near the top of the world. That should be a high priority for our nation.

Hours School Number School Too

I know for me personally I was in school from 7:45 until 3:15, then had band practice until 5 PM and then had supper, and went back for drama rehearsal, then went to bed around 9 PM (Which is early, but living out in the boonies, I didn't have much choice). I rarely had time to do homework at home, I was usually doing it during class or during other classes. It was really stressful, and I was blessed I didn't have to work or otherwise have responsibilities on school days. I think we push kids too hard now-a-days to achieve. You have to do all this extracurricular stuff just to get into college, and you have to college to get a decent job, and if you don't graduate with honors and all this extra leadership stuff, then you won't get a good job anyways, because everyone needs experience. It is all very stressful, and I decided to go to graduate school and get an advanced degree. It took me a year and a half to find a job in my field. It wasn't even a job I was particularly thrilled about, but I finally settled for it, so I could get experience and apply again in a few years for more desirable jobs. I think letting kids enjoy when they are young and do things that are fun, yet educational is a huge blessing for the kid. I also agree that shifting the school day to later times would be beneficial to high schoolers, but I know it would be difficult for parents. I don't know if there is a perfect solution.

Too Much School - Number School Hours

The way they do schooling in Finland, one of the best educational systems in the world, as a model shows that less hours are better and guess what, thjey do not give homework!