Roundtable: Lengthen school day, school year?

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently argued that the average school day and school year in the United States need to be longer. Is there merit in lengthening the school day and/or school year?



Associated Press
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan listens to fourth graders read at Delaplaine McDaniel Elementary School in Philadelphia Sept. 29. Duncan has suggested the United States consider lengthening the school day and school year.

Longer year, yes; longer day, no
Our nation’s schools are in trouble due to the economy and the standards we use to gauge success. I would not be in favor of a longer school day for students. I believe an eight-hour day is enough to have students in the classroom. The average work day is based on an eight-hour day and students need time to be children outside of a classroom setting.

However, I would be in favor of a longer school year. Cutting summer vacation to two months would be a start, but we need to also address the standards with which we measure schools and teachers as well. We need to reform how we judge good teachers from the bad and make sure we have the best teachers in the classroom. Our educational system also needs to be more streamlined as far as curriculum is concerned. Just throwing money at a problem isn’t the answer. Kevin Williamson


Lengthen both, but it will cost
Not being an educator, I will answer as a parent and that answer is an emphatic “yes” to lengthening both the day and the year. I’m sure teachers won’t like to hear that kids should have a longer day.

The reason for taking the summer off goes back to the days when the kids were needed to work on the farm. Obviously that is not the case anymore. In fact, if they were needed for planting and harvest, summer isn’t the time.

Teachers and students wouldn’t be the only people who would have to re-adjust. Renegotiating teachers’ contracts would be expensive and it would require taxpayers to pay more. But if we want better results, we have to pay for it.

Oh, yeah. If I were still a student my answer would be completely different. Harry Bulkeley


Extending school day has merit
I’m sure my students would hang me for saying this, but yes, this idea does have merit. A longer school day would allow more contact time in the classroom which will only increase what students are learning. I know that there are many days when I have to push hard to get through a lesson — an extra 10-15 minutes would allow me to finish a lesson in one day and perhaps allow me to cover more in the course of a semester.

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