Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Saved by the (Later) Bell?

I haven't had much time to post the past few days; Monday was Monday, which meant Fish Night and jamming with friends, and today, my colleague at the college was sick, so I taught some of his classes as well as all of mine (which makes for a nice 14-hour day in all). So let me toss out a discussion question that's been in the news recently. You guys can add your thoughts first, in the comments, and I'll come back shortly and tell you my own take on the subject.

Here's the question: Should the school day be lengthened? A lot of people are talking about it nationwide. The average school day is 6.5 hours long; the schools where I teach clock in at about an even seven. Some schools have expanded to eight, and one set of charter schools goes from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (that's exactly half an hour shorter than my Friday, which is one of my "slacker" days). Would the potential gains justify the extra expense? Do students need to be in school that long? Discuss...

3 comments:

Eric Grubbs said...

As if the school day isn't long enough . . .

Anonymous said...

I couldn't tell you. I didn't learn anything in high school, so I don't know if a few extra hours would do anything profound. Maybe teachers should just teach the students for once. Then they would have less of a culture shock when they start failing every college course they attend. Heck, they might even pass their college courses. That would be pretty freakin' cool.

Kev said...

But G...if they actually taught the kids, there wouldn't be any time left for the TAKS test! :-P