School days for young kids should be shorter and more focused

[Anonymous]

Op, I think what you want is private, but it costs $$

[Anonymous]

OP has a couple of choices:

-move to a country with a shorter school day (because US schools won't do this, and even if she tried to lobby for it, the school system would outlast her and her kids would be in HS before it could ever happen - but it won't)

-pay for a mythical private school relatively close to where she's living and pay more for less school

-get over it

[Anonymous]

Agreed OP. Young kids cortisol levels reach stressed levels in all day programs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2946618/

The thing is (and any teacher or low income parent cat attest) we don’t organize our society around the needs of children for optimal development. We just blame teachers and women when things don’t go well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the compressed schedule is being pushed by the teachers (for their convenience) and hurts kid's learning. A longer school day with breaks and outdoor time is more pedagogically advantageous. Half-day school schedules also hurt work-life balance, particularly for women, and require more of the family's budget to cover the afternoon time, or forces women to work part-time (again, limiting women's participation in the workforce).

Another thing to blame on teachers. The length of the school day. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Well I guess school should just keep being bad for kids. What was I thinking, wanting to improve it? Silly me.

Y’all are depressing.

[Anonymous]

The problems kids are having have little to do with the #of hours kids are in school. The number of hours has been status for decades. Perhaps it is the environment and culture changes, both in the school and outside of the school, that is the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP has a couple of choices:

-move to a country with a shorter school day (because US schools won't do this, and even if she tried to lobby for it, the school system would outlast her and her kids would be in HS before it could ever happen - but it won't)

-pay for a mythical private school relatively close to where she's living and pay more for less school

-get over it

There's also home school, if your work schedule is flexible enough and you work from home. Once a kid can read this is a real possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure how much focus a young child could have for an entire morning of academics.

This... OP, it is highly unlikely a class of lower elementary students would do any better by spending an entire morning in one room with essentially no breaks from academics.
I suggest you spend 3+ hours in one room with 20+ kindergarteners teaching reading, math, etc only every day for a week and then get back to us.

1st grade in Germany goes to school from 8 - 11:15, has a break, does art, PE, and music.
As the kids get older, some days school goes to 12:15 or 1, with more breaks added.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the compressed schedule is being pushed by the teachers (for their convenience) and hurts kid's learning. A longer school day with breaks and outdoor time is more pedagogically advantageous. Half-day school schedules also hurt work-life balance, particularly for women, and require more of the family's budget to cover the afternoon time, or forces women to work part-time (again, limiting women's participation in the workforce).

So it all comes down to school as childcare, not what's best for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the compressed schedule is being pushed by the teachers (for their convenience) and hurts kid's learning. A longer school day with breaks and outdoor time is more pedagogically advantageous. Half-day school schedules also hurt work-life balance, particularly for women, and require more of the family's budget to cover the afternoon time, or forces women to work part-time (again, limiting women's participation in the workforce).

So it all comes down to school as childcare, not what's best for the kids.

We have been telling you school is just glorified daycare forever. Yes, duh! If anything, parents would like kids warehoused from 7a to 7p and have an option to include dinner so all they have to do is wash them up and put them to bed. Why even have kids at that point????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure how much focus a young child could have for an entire morning of academics.

This... OP, it is highly unlikely a class of lower elementary students would do any better by spending an entire morning in one room with essentially no breaks from academics.
I suggest you spend 3+ hours in one room with 20+ kindergarteners teaching reading, math, etc only every day for a week and then get back to us.

1st grade in Germany goes to school from 8 - 11:15, has a break, does art, PE, and music.
As the kids get older, some days school goes to 12:15 or 1, with more breaks added.

So when does the school day actually end?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure how much focus a young child could have for an entire morning of academics.

This... OP, it is highly unlikely a class of lower elementary students would do any better by spending an entire morning in one room with essentially no breaks from academics.
I suggest you spend 3+ hours in one room with 20+ kindergarteners teaching reading, math, etc only every day for a week and then get back to us.

1st grade in Germany goes to school from 8 - 11:15, has a break, does art, PE, and music.
As the kids get older, some days school goes to 12:15 or 1, with more breaks added.

So when does the school day actually end?

Typical school in Germany Grades 1-4 would be something like 8 am to 1:00. Kids go home for midday meal and then that's it - they are home.

[Anonymous]

If that's what you want, move to Germany

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay so how much is this aftercare going to cost? Sounds like a way to shift things to parents. The rich kids and then the poor kids (who get it free) get to take art, language, PE. Middle class kids just go to whatever aftercare they can afford or grandma picks them up.

I disagree with your assertion that school is too long. Most only run 8-3 anyways.

In countries that do this, aftercare is heavily subsidized and costs less to families than most of the shorter, more bare bones programs we have in the US.

I know you’ll say “well we aren’t other countries” but the point here is that maybe there is another way.

This is really just shifting the cost of "school" to "aftercare" and what you proposed is basically the same thing as a rearranged school day. No reason to upend the system to accomplish the same thing. I would add that kids need a LOT more outside time (including nature time, not just black top) and that would be used in the morning to give the brain and body a break from academics.