by Ken Reetz

Created on: March 04, 2008   Last Updated: March 08, 2008

Should the school year be lengthened? Yes, our children would greatly benefit from a longer school year, perhaps more so with year round schools. Restructure the school day with fewer academic subjects, add more creative arts and library time, and take breaks in the school year at regular intervals. In other words, stretch the time and focus the learning.

Students in almost 30 industrialized countries have longer school years than the 180 day average we have in the United States. Look at these few examples:

Japan = 243 school days
S. Korea = 220 school days
Israel = 216 days
Netherlands = 200 days

The big question remains, however. Does more school equal more learning? The answer here is YES, and NO. YES, good schooling over a longer period will have better results; NO, bad schooling over a longer period will not have better results. This is an entirely different subject and needs its own treatment.

For the sake of this topic, "Should the school year be lengthened?" we should assume that we're talking about good schooling. Do we really believe that our kids can have too much of a "good" thing?

Consider some of the other factors that favor extending the school year:

* These massive school buildings should be used, not idle.
* The administration and teaching staff is paid a "yearly" salary - regular breaks and
sabbaticals can accommodate their continued education.
* It is the poorest of our kids that would benefit most. These kids don't generally get to
summer camp and specialized retreats for the arts and etc.
* Since we're not an agricultural society any longer, our kids need something constructive to do during the summer. It might be naive to put too much weight on this benefit, but it is possible that fewer numbers of kids would join gangs if they didn't have so much down time.

Read the biography of John Adams and consider the approach he and Abigail took with the education if their own children. They were typical parents of the day, and like most of their contemporaries, they did not tolerate idleness in their children. They allowed their kids to have recreation and fun, but they never took time off from learning. Why should our kids?

The idea of an extending the school year, or perhaps making school a year round affair should be seriously considered.

A few links to read more on this subject - both pro and con views on the subject:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/ admin126.shtml

http://www.nayre.org

http://glass.ed.as u.edu/gene/papers/yrs.html

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