by Jim Tressor

Created on: June 18, 2009   Last Updated: July 20, 2009

This opinion article is copied from www.mindreign.com and http://www.mindreign.com/en/mindshare/Global-Economi cs/Bubble-Bursting-2c-Mortgage-Debt-2c-and-Laziness/ sl35291137bp286cpp10pn1.html. I am not sure that the opinion presented in this piece is entirely the best one, although it is an interesting take on how we should increase the school hours per day for American school children.

Obviously the current economic crisis in the United States is not caused by laziness well, not entirely. It is a common belief that Americans work more than Europeans. Europeans have more annual vacation time, work fewer hours generally, and sometimes even take breaks for siestas in the middle of the day. With all this in mind, Americans like to brag about how much harder they work on a day-to-day basis. But, when all aspects are brought to light, Americans don't always work harder than Europeans; in fact, American children work significantly less

American children are in school for only 32 hours in a week, whereas children in Sweden go to school for up to 60 hours a week (see link below). American school children go to school for an average of 15 days fewer than most other nation's children per year. America has gotten away with this pre-adult educational laziness in the recent past because it keeps recruiting brilliant minds from abroad, both youth and adult. But this lack of training will eventually catch up with the country as American workers will become less educated than workers from foreign countries.

The solution, which some schools have already begun to implement, is to increase the hours in the school day. Most American high schools get out around 2:30 PM; this time could be increased by at least 30 minutes, and the only major repercussion would be that some students would miss watching re-runs of Arthur on PBS. European and Asian schools are becoming more competitive, and if this trend continues it is very possible that American schools will become less able to match the standards of their foreign counterparts. First step towards change is to alter the American attitude that children deserve as much relaxation as they get. American children must be prepared to work as hard as their counterparts if America wants to be able to keep up intellectually and economically.

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