School is Long, But Should it be Longer?

The final Action Project for the history and language course, Argument, has risen. This course we've learned about the Civil Rights Movement Act in 1964, and also how certain forms of discrimination are evidently present today, despite our country's (United States) government's best effort to prevent it from happening. Countless cases of abuse and brutality from our own law enforcers, this is why we study the Civil Rights, to see if everyone actually has them, but I digress. The Action Project this time was merely to have a synthesis of both sides for an argument, any argument actually. As long as both points of view of the topic are considered, there's no limit to what this project can focus on. I myself chose school schedules. Many people already consider school days to be long enough as is, especially with the homework, but what if they were longer?

Reformatting School

Thesis

If school days were slightly longer, and the school year was longer too, then that would provide more time for proper teachings, and less homework. I see it as a more effective method for schools as homework is often times what overwhelms some students, resulting in less sleep each night they stay up trying to complete all the assignments. That, in turn, causes a chain effect of less efficient work, because of having less sleep. If the school day was slightly longer, there would be less homework assigned, and while there may be more time spent in school, the ratio of work done is school is suppose to alleviate a good amount of homework from the students.

Where's the Support?

- "A longer school day would allow schools to spend more time on art, music, social studies, science and physical education. These subjects have been cut back through the years to focus on English and math in the hopes of boosting test scores. Yet test scores have remained stagnant, and students have missed out on a more well-rounded education." -Barbara Bean-Mellinger, 2016

- "Yes, longer school days.

Wikimedia Commons, David Stroble,

Students and Teacher in a Classroom, 

1974 (digitally remastered)

I say yes. There are a lot of kids struggling in classes. Having longer class time means that a lot more stuff will get finished that might have not because there was too little time. The longer class times doesn't mean that it has to just be the teacher up inn front. This could be a time where the teacher walks around asking students if they need help. It could be a homework period. Maybe they have sports. They could get all their homework done if there is longer school days. And teachers worry so much about students not doing homework. This could be the time that the kids who don't do homework do it and not waste time playing video games." -Anonymous User via Debate.org 2013*

- "Instead of narrowing the school curriculum to focus on reading and math, the new school day opens up the range of subjects students study and get exposure to. In new day schools, students explore music and the arts, a remarkable variety of enrichment activities, as well as a range of programs in social and emotional learning. All these activities contribute mightily to helping children receive a truly well-rounded education. There's good evidence that the new school day improves the overall school learning climate by raising attendance and by reducing disciplinary referrals and what are blandly called serious incidents." - Christopher Gabrieli & Warren Goldstein,  2010**

Who has a say against it? (Anti-Thesis)

- "There are just 24 hours a day. School in itself takes up around 8 of those hours with travel to and from school and homework. Kids need about 10 hours of sleep. That leaves just 6 hours a day for family life, eating, sleeping, health care, physical activity, developing social skills, learning life skills participating in extra curricular activities and sport, religious instruction, reading and so on. Many of these things are just as important as school." Anonymous User via Debate.org 2012

- "School Days: Quality vs. Quantity

Wikipedia, Young woman sleeps over study materials,
Username: Psy3330 W10, 2010

But like the Academy Awards or tapeworms, “longer isn’t necessarily better.” After a while, things deteriorate and can even become painful. School is no exception. When we start to solve schooling issues from the position of lengthening the school day, we will create more problems than solutions because that time and money will have to be cut from something else.
By extending the school days, schools will need to cut after-school programs, sports and clubs, and make-up credits (night school). Graduation rates will plummet (further) when we see that kids who can’t make up classes they failed the first time have no second chance to learn.
Outside of the classroom, students’ lives will deteriorate: students will need to quit their after-school jobs. They will get home much later in the evening." - Adam Heenan,  2014

- "The more time kids spend in school, the less time they'll have outside of school. This is time they currently spend on extracurricular activities of their choice. Students will spend time in a basic physical education class instead of dance, karate or listening to music. Children already spend a large portion of their day being told what to do, how to do it and what rules to follow, and have little free time as it is. The ability to make their own decisions on how to spend their time is a learning experience, too." -Barbara Bean-Mellinger, 2016

Simply put (straight forward visual):

Questions for both sides

Longer school days: Do you really believe that the students will pay attention?

Answer: While the influence of the teachers and guardians is essential for optimized student performance, if the school day is slightly longer, we can either have a shorter school year or cover more lessons thus reducing homework. The goal is to eliminate the after school stress of having hours worth of independent work which will usually have a long term negative effect on the student.

Shorter school days: How do you suggest handling the work load, because compensation for what's not learned in class will be require.

Answer: With shorter schools days, a longer school year or even all year round could allow for any teachings that weren't fit in for the regular schedules. Brazilian education has 2 schedules, morning or afternoon, and it's all year round, which provides much less stress and strain on students as extended school hours can even proof to be painful in some way.

But is there something we agree on? (Synthesis):

Flicker, Girl overwhelmed by books, Walt Stoneburner, 2009

I believe both stands recognize that a change in schedule would be beneficial, and that students need more time to themselves as a whole. Focusing only on school causes too much stress for young developing minds to handle, which is why change should be a priority. American education may not be the worst, but there's a reason as to why here in this country, school is always affiliated with loathsome boredom, so a more engaging classroom, or perhaps more time for the student to pursue personal interests, should surely change that asphyxiation. Less work at home means better attitude the next day, however longer days could possibly result in a negative outlook towards school because it consumes so much time alone. Assuming it was all year around, though, it could also provoke a hateful connotation with the idea of going to school, as it would be redundant with the students. There are definitely large points to address for both sides, but in hindsight, the way things are right now are not optimal for American students. Some way to change the work load is no doubt what's needed for students today.

Sources (MLA, see also for Prezi)

TeacherHub, Ed Reform: Longer School Days or Better School Days? AH, 2012 http://www.teachhub.com/ed-reform-longer-school-days 

Institute of Education Sciences, Fast Facts, NA, 2015-16 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40

Seattle PI, The Negative Effects of Extending School Days, Marie Anderson, 2016 http://education.seattlepi.com/negative-effects-extending-school-days-1755.html 

NEA, Longer School Days Affect Everyone, Dave Arnold, 2015 http://www.nea.org/home/14511.htm

Debate.org, "Should school days be longer?" NA, year of creation 2013(?) http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-school-days-be-longer

*Interested in hearing the debate about video games? Classmate and fellow blogger DNR made a post all about that here.

**There's much more to read in the article that further backs up the side of having longer school days, you can read more here.