In most countries, the schools are at least 8 hours/day, and often 6 days a week. We are already falling way behind the educated people in other countries. So no, school should be more, not fewer (less is incorrect English) hours per day.

That’s going to be a hard sell. Part of the function on school especially these days is that you have adult supervision while your parents are at work. You might try to see if you can find studies which would support the idea that there should be more physical activity during school such as the current movement to keep recess. (Some people even want to take that away.) Doing any one thing for prolonged periods, even studying, can lessen your concentration. You might want to suggest a more activity-based school, where people could get more concentrated skills development, like internships, off-campus or something. Good luck! I have actually found very little that I learned in school all that useful other then the idea that you need to look any given situation from a good number of different perspectives and angles, so that you can develop empathy between positions and build bridges, and sometimes use the same strategy to win arguments. Think about how the administration could benefit from having a shorter school day as well. I also found that while school perhaps prepared people for reading writing and arithmetic, most of the problems in life have to do with people’s emotional baggage, and negotiating different things. Perhaps your classes should be more oriented toward solving those kinds of problems. Why don’t we have classes about how to build stronger marriages? Or ending wars? Or the relationship between capitalism and classism.. or a class on the negative aspects of competition… Good luck! I wish I had a class right now on how to build a group of friends now that I’m out of school. It’s much harder once you’re out.

Our education system in America is terrible compared to other countries. As someone else said, some countries go at least 8 hours and for 6 days a week. They bust their asses, and become something. Here, we are used to “getting by”, and taking it easy. You honestly think cutting it down to 12 hours of school a week is a good idea??! There are a lot of reasons why this is unacceptable. Besides it being just plain stupid, as in we would learn nothing, what else would the kids do after school? Not everyone is homeschooled, and not everyone’s parents are home all the time. What would small children do whose parents work? Or older kids even? These older children would most likely get into all kinds of trouble without some kind of supervision. Not all of them , but the percentage would certainly rise. Kids need school.

Now on the subject of it starting later, I could definately understand that, as most children aren’t functioning well at 7am… But you would get out later, around 5 or 6.. which do you sacrifice?

I do not think cutting hours down from around 40 hrs a week to 12 would be a wise decision at all, under any circumstances. And it will never happen.

And with all that free time, you ought to work on your english and grammar skills. You won’t get far with sentence structure like that!

edit:and i cannot believe the teacher who said you should cut down on hours because of tardies and absences! THat is the parents responsibility to ensure the child is in school, and when they fail to do this, it should never, ever mean we should cut school hours down to 12 a week! You should be ashamed, I can’t believe you picked teaching to be your occupation!

The reason you were able to complete your work faster in home schooling is because your instruction was specialized to fit your learning style. In traditional schools, teachers must spend more time on one concept to ensure that they meet the learning styles and needs of 30 students. Everyone learns differently so the teacher has to present the material in many different ways, including repeating the concept a day later and doing multiple drills and reviews (because that’s what some people need). If everyone had their own individual teacher or were in small groups of five or less, then school wouldn’t be seven hours a day (but then you’d have to pay for it because the government couldn’t afford to pay all those teachers, they don’t pay us enough now as it is and there aren’t enough teachers!).

To answer your question, yes and no. Students would only learn better in shorter days if their class size was smaller. In a way, class size and length of instruction are directly proportional. There is no question that students who are home schooled usually have a broader education and better understanding of material, and it’s because they get 100% one on one support from their instructor. Ever wonder why teachers are always saying that class sizes need to be smaller? It’s so the amount of one on one attention can be increased for each child.

Not at all. Everybody learns at a different pace. Especially in public schools since teachers must cover multiple students.

We home school our children and emphasize repetition over a 4 to 8 hour day. The longest day our children ever had was from 8:00 A.M to 1:35 A.M. Only because he felt that whining about it would make us stop. He not only completed his initial work but two others days as well. We use home work as a punishment system also.

The less time you spend schooling, the less you’ll learn.

For YOU, I would recommend some LONGER hours! If your grammar, as used in your question, is any indication of your true grasp of English useage, then you are in serious trouble. No college would place you in anything but remedial English if your entrance exam essay was phrased as poorly as was your question. No corporation would hire you for anything beyond a labor position. How we speak is a large part of how we are perceived, and if we wish to be perceived as intelligent, then we should speak and write so that we convey that intelligence.Some students can grasp the subject-matter they are presented with quickly, others take way more time.The school-day is aimed at the median ability. If you are so advanced, and capable of doing your work in far less time than is allowed, challenge the tests, talk to your guidance counsellor about independantly-paced classes. But before you do, work on your grammar, else they’ll laugh in your face.

It is somewhat true that kids will lose interest and ability to focus if kept at the same thing for too long. However, many kids would simply run around causing mischief or worse if left to their own devices for additional hours/days. If you don’t find school a challenge, look for extra-curricular or advanced placement classes to give you a greater challenge. If that doesn’t work, try a local community college for even greater challenge!

Probably not. You have looked at the situation in a rather simplistic and personal way, without considering whether your experiences and way of learning could apply to all students. Many places actually have, and need, a longer school day than the one you describe.

As a teacher, I hate to say this, but you are right. It would cut down on tardies, and absences as well, because you would be more willing to come a few days for a few hours each rather than give up all day five days a week!

some people need the extra time

perhaps you should spend time on your grammar

you have to learn at your own pace, what about less fortunate kids and kids who don’t understand material

cutting it down will increase crime rates, skipped school days and Fs.