Solomon Lo
29 September 2015
Did you know that school schedules haven’t changed much since the late 18th century?
The school schedules of today are designed for the needs of someone during the Industrial
Revolution, and not for kids of the 21st century. Education Secretary Arne Duncan once said in a
recent interview with The Associated Press, that "Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian
economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today." Today’s jobs are vastly
different from the jobs popular during the 18th century, but school schedules haven’t changed to
compensate for this difference. The easiest and most effective way to prepare student for these
new jobs is to increase the length of school days. Increasing the length of school days will give
teachers more time to teach the curriculum better, allow kids to have a more well-rounded
School days should be longer because it gives teachers more time so that they can teach
the curriculum better. According to staff writers in the online article “10 Telling Studies Done on
Longer School Days,” longer school days led to substantially higher test scores.The staff writers
study from 2006-2007, found that increasing the school day by 25% in 18 schools around the
state caused test scores to rise by 4.7-10.8 percentage points. An increase in length of the school
day will increase students' knowledge of the curriculum and also improve their test scores.
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Students are being victimized by a school schedule that is out of their control. Lengthening the
school day will give students the education they deserve, and prevent their curriculum from
being rushed. Some students may say that a longer school day would cause them to not have
enough time to do homework along with other extracurricular activities. However, with a longer
school day, students will have more time to do their homework in class. Students will also be
able to get help from the teacher when they need help, instead of not understanding the
homework and not doing it as a result. A longer school day will actually give students more free
time for extracurricular activities, instead of giving them less. This is because students will be
able to get homework done more quickly and efficiently in school, instead of struggling through
it at home. Longer school days give students the education they deserve, instead of a rushed
education that they'll struggle with for the rest of their life.
School days should be longer because it will allow kids to have a more well-rounded
education. Instead of limiting children to the bare necessities needed for going to college, a
longer school day could help kids discover hidden talents and passions, such as music and art.
Christopher Gabrieli and Warren Goldstein, in the article “Time to Learn:Benefits of a Longer
School Day,” explain how a longer school day will allow students to explore a broader range of
subjects. Gabrieli and Goldstein support their claim by showing how with longer school days,
students will “be able to take enrichment activities, as well as a range of programs in social and
emotional learning.” Creative thinking is an essential job skill that students will need when they
are older, and lengthening school days is an excellent way to teach them to think
unconventionally. Some teachers may say that they are underpaid as is, even without the addition
of extra hours in their work day. However, a longer school day will be a strong point teachers
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can use against other people who say that teachers should be paid less, or the same amount.
Lengthening the school day will help teachers get paid more, and allow students to discover their
interests.
School days should be longer because it allows students to have more school holidays
during the school year. Because school days will be longer, less school days will be needed to
reach the original amount of time required in school. This increase in school holidays will let
kids spend more time with their parents. This is important, because school usually leaves little to
no time for students to bond with their family. However, more school holidays will let kids spend
time with their parents when it matters most in their life. More school holidays also allow kids to
get more sleep. Michael J. Breus, PhD, in the article “Back to School, Back to Sleep,” explains
how students who have a lack of sleep do significantly worse in school than people who do get
enough sleep. Breus supports his claim by stating a study where students with C's, D's and F's
got about 25 fewer minutes of sleep and went to bed an average of 40 minutes later than A and B
student. School holidays offer students a chance to recover from the lack of sleep because of late
nights and all-nighters from doing homework or projects. Some parents may argue that longer
school holidays lead to lower grades because students will forget what they have learned, since
they aren’t constantly reviewing it in school. However, school holidays actually improve scores
for people struggling with the curriculum, because it gives struggling students time to study and
catch up to students who already know the material. Longer school holidays offer nothing but
benefits for students, who desperately need respites from the stress of going to school everyday.
In the 21st century, the current school schedules don’t prepare students for future
education, jobs, and lives. If we keep these current school schedules, students all over America
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will be ill-prepared for the future. However, a longer school day will yield many benefits, such
as a more well-rounded education and better overall health for all students. Because of this, we
need to lengthen the school day, preparing our students for the jobs of tomorrow.
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Works Cited
Feature, Michael J. Breus PhDWebMD. "Fixing Children's Sleeping Problems Could Improve
Grades and Behavior." WebMD. WebMD, 02 Sept. 2004. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Gabrieli, Christopher, and Warren Goldstein. "Time to Learn: Benefits of a Longer School Day."
"Obama Proposes Longer School Day, Shorter Summer Vacation." Fox News. FOX News