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Question of the Day: 4-Day School Week?
By JLP | July 24, 2008
Read this: Schools Eye Four-Day Week to Cut Fuel Costs
It seems more and more school districts are moving to four-day school weeks as a way to save money on fuel.
I’m not a fan of this idea for two reasons:
1. It will make the other days too long for the kids (and teachers).
and…
2. It will be tough on parents to figure out what to do with their kids on the off day.
Of course, for me it could just boil down to the fact that I don’t like change. LOL!
What about you? Would you go for something like this?
Topics: Question of the Day | 35 Comments »
July 24th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
To me it’s a no-brainer that we as a nation should cut down to four days of work and school. The energy saving would be astronomical.
With all the modern technologies available to us to learn on line and communicate with coworkers and clients, let’s make a dent in the energy crisis.
Don’t fear change.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
How about we just shift enough funds from the military budget to the education budget so we don’t have to keep cutting back on the areas that matter most?
July 24th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
My son just started Kindergarten. The district offers both full and half days but, because we registered late, he is stuck in half-day. The fact that he is in half-day is hard enough because my wife would like to work more hours. This makes it difficult because we now have to factor in daycare. Having a 4 day school week would make things even more difficult.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
It’s dumb for school districts to come up with a plan that doesn’t take into account the children’s needs (sitting too long!) or the parents’s needs for childcare!
July 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I disagree with the 4-day school week. As a matter of fact, I believe that our children should go to school year round. The US is already behind other major countries when it comes to education and test scores. I know test scores don’t mean everything, but I believe we need MORE education – not a reduced school week. As for daycare, yes, it would be a difficult adjustment. However, we’ve made it work so far with most households having both parents working.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I find this to be a terrible idea for a few reasons.
What if one (or the only, in many cases) parent is not at home or can’t arrange a 4-day work week? Speaking to potential energy savings, the total hours of teaching time would have to be the same to reach the same goals, wouldn’t it? In which case the total energy used would likely be the same or – if there’s a savings in having 3 days in a row with low usage – at least a lot smaller. 4 days in school and 3 off doesn’t seem like a good way to sustain momentum in teaching either. Besides, the teachers are already complaining they don’t have enough prep time, so if you squeeze more classroom hours into any given day, the teachers would just have to take that out of the “day off” or end up working ridiculously long hours on the “on days”.
My main argument is really with cutting back on schools and education in general. This is not a good place to trim. Ever.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
To #5: I’m with you on the year-round school schedule all the way.
About the care issue on the off day: where is the capacity to take all those kids? And just for one day? Hm, maybe the teachers can do it to make up some ground on the pitiful salaries they’re often subjected to.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Forget the kids, I would like 4 days work weeks
Finally get that 3 day weekend on a regular basis.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I find this a ridiculous idea. The schools waste so much money in other ways. Like 1/2 days – why in the world would we pull kids in for a 1/2 a day with energy costs – even before today’s highs. My district also has the “last day” come in for an hour. As a good green person, my kids DO NOT ATTEND, we wait for the report cards to be mailed. They should just send the scores home on the last day.
I too agree with a year round education. Maybe with 3-2 week breaks spaced periodically.
End field trips – so many folks would like to have fun with their kids and can’t because they fund field trip after field trip. This drove me crazy when I was a single mom and the kids were all in grade school. Don’t they think I would like to take my kids to a movie or something. Instead the district, teachers and schools bleed me dry with financial requests every week.
Maybe the 4 day thing wouldn’t be an issue for intack families. But statistic show more and more are broken – this will definitely drive the majority of single parent homes into poverty.
They need to think of better ways to cut the expenses -
July 24th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Where I went to high school we had longer days Monday-Thursday with block schedule so we had 4 classes a day. This gave us time to get into a topic more deeply and start learning. Some teachers took advantage of this well others did not.
This also gave you a day between classes which is much more like college also.
Finally on Fridays we were given half days, and the morning consisted of elective type classes that helped build extracurricular activities as well as study sessions for the regular classes.
I understand the difficulties some families would have. Particularly those with children that would get themselves in more trouble. I know that my schools were all fairly close to home and 5th grade on I walked home.
I also agree this would create larger problems for younger than high school students.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I’m calling for a short term bottom of crude. closed all my positions in DUG. will load up DIG soon …
July 25th, 2008 at 6:00 am
I don’t agree with this. Many kids not only get their good education from school, but nutrition, too. For those who have subsidized nutrition, that would add 1-2 more meals per week to plan and pay for.
It would probably force a lot of people to put their kids into a daycare program, and daycare doesn’t seem like the best place for a kid to learn and grow.
What about school sports and after school activities? After an extended day of school, kids would be more tired and possibly not have time for sports. You can’t put all that extra training into 1 day a week. I’d rather see year-round school.
Want to be green and save energy (and lower healthcare costs)? Let’s get more kids biking to school, and more parents biking with their kids to school. Let’s increase the safety of the routes to school so it’s safer for kids to bike and walk.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:10 am
even though i’m at home and it wouldn’t be a hardship for me to have my kids that fifth day, i don’t think this is a great idea. it would be a long day, with even less time to get homework done and turned in. and i agree with the comment that a three-day break in learning is too long.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Oh wow this is an eye-opening discussion. A HUGE group thinks of school as a big state-run daycare center. And then we wonder why the US public education system is so awful?
An overlapping group thinks the solution is spending more money on schools, completely ignoring the fact that the US already spends more per student than any other developed country.
Also, for those who think the money should come from the defense budget, consider this. The defense budget is $493 billion.
Government funding for public education in 2006 (released in 2008, go government efficiency!) was $526 billion.
How much more money should we divert for what amounts to a simple task that other countries handle with far fewer resources (both total AND per student)?? At some point you have to acknowledge that there are non-monetary problems that have to be addressed.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:38 am
a couple comments on the comments – first off – teachers are not underpaid considering that they only work 9 mos of the year. Cutting education expenses is the last thing we should do, however, this could be made to work. If they go to a 4 day week, the classes could be structured more like college classes, a bit longer and not every day, and time could be built in to the day for homework to be completed at school. At our school, they have so many vacation days, half days, etc, in-service days, etc, that they could eliminate these and have them on Fridays. I don’t think we should resist change just because it is something different, I think that now is the time to really look at things differently and consider all options because it is not like the current education system is working so well, it is just that it is the way it has always been for all of us, i.e., go 5 days per week, 2 weeks off at Christmas, and 3 months off in the summer. Who said that was the best way?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:21 am
got 100 shares of DIG at $85.4, a small position …
July 25th, 2008 at 10:45 am
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July 25th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
1-I agree w/getting rid of 1/2 days.
2-Year-round school would be beneficial–then we’d cut out the 3 weeks of “reviewing” every Aug/Sept
3-Yes, teachers are fairly compensated, altho’ I’m sure there are some exceptions in certain school districts. Their pensions aren’t half bad either.
4. My advice to all who want to raise our test scores/academic achievements: don’t let your kids waste their time on video games!! My oldest son (who’s now 13) had a teacher question the class this year on what they did the prior night (after her grading their (awful–or missing!) homework. Most hands went up for playing video games. It’s a black hole for time w/little redeeming qualities from what I’ve seen in other kids. At family gatherings my 12-year old nephew is either messing w/his stupid t/p texting or his hand-held gaming device. How about conversing w/the family?!!
5. It all begins at home! Have your children been surrounded w/good books and interesting reading material? Do you consistently take them to the library to expose them to different types of things to read? If watching tv, are you always watching Nascar, wrestling, etc. or do you watch the History or Discovery/Science channel and discuss what you’ve watched? Do you always take “beach” vacations or do you try to mix in some historical visits on your trips (Pearl Harbor if in Hawaii, Freedom Trail in Boston, etc.) Teaching is not all on the school district’s shoulders…
July 25th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Jon comment #14 makes some good points. I would love to see 4 day school weeks and work weeks. The concept that the only productive time any of us has is 8 to 5 M-F is asinine. Kids could do block schedules 4 days a week and forget trying to take the 8 hours they miss out on from being home Friday and just tacking it on to the other 4 days. It’s not the quantity it’s the quality. I think many of us forget when we were kids. I’m in my 30′s and I went to school from Labor Day to Memorial Day, played Nintendo religiously, and snow days were freebies (you didn’t have to make them up). I’m sure our parents said we didn’t go to school enough and we played too many videogames. Most of us turned out alright. So, bring on the 4 day school/work week – it will probably do us all some good.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I think kids need repetition to learn. I think they are better served by 5 days on and then only two days to ‘forget’ what they have learned.
I work a 4 day work week and while personally it is great, it takes me the full first day back to get caught back up which hurts my productivity (I work at a 7 day operation).
In my state, the kids already go on a modified year schedule. My school district starts school next week. I think they typically go for about 8-12 weeks and then have two weeks off. I think the summer break is only 6-8 weeks.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
God I hope not. I have so many problems with schools assuming that all households are 2 parent households with Mom home as it is.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I’m all for it because it would pretty much force all of the employers to go to a 4 day work week as well — all the better in my opinion.
July 26th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I think the 4 day work week especially for government agencies make sense. All of the states are losing money so if we can find a way to help them save money that makes sense. Maybe they will tax us less then.
July 27th, 2008 at 9:42 am
We humans don’t have unlimited attention span. Nor do we learn well when we are tired. Unless there is break/play time built in, I doubt it very much that kids would learn much during the last two hours.
Kids also need homework as it teaches them to work independently and reinforces what they have learned in class. It is also doesn’t take teachers’ time as it would if homework had to be done during these hours. Longer days don’t leave time for the homework.
Also, as it was mentioned above – kids forget. You can forget much during 3 day breaks.
What about hobbies and extra-curricular activities such as sports or music? A child that takes private piano lessons and is serious about music practices 2-3 hourss every day. A child that only does it as a hobby – probably an hour a day. Practicing nothing for 4 days and 8 hours for 3 days wouldn’t get you anywhere. Similarly for kids who are on swim teams, gymnastics, etc. They need regular time to do it. How would that be accomodated with 4 day week? Or we should have no athletes and no musicians?
July 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
no! If only because too many parents think of school as a baby-sitter and the library when school is not in session!
July 28th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
my 100shares DIG was stopped out at $86.55 with a profit ($75.1=8655-8540-19.95-19.95).
Got too busy to trade. I’d see what happens next week. Looking for a big crash in the general equity market!
August 18th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Stop complaining about parents needs. This is about kids – put them first, not yourself. Take responsibility for your children and quit trying to put off the learning & caring onto others. I didn’t have kids to have them raised by someone else and would love a 4-day week so I can spend more time with them.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am
hey i think that a 4 day week is great come on parents will find someole=aese to put there kids a extra day just for fun think about and say yes
January 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am
hey i think that a 4 day week is great come on parents will find someole whare to put there kids a extra day just for fun think about and say yes
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:22 pm
5 day weeks are better
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
i think a 4 day week is cool because you have a hole lot more days for the weekend
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
i think a 4 day week is cool because you have a hole lot more days for the weekend.
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I think that we should have a four day week because at home we can spend our day home or with our friends and maybe studying.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I think that is stupid!
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I like having a four day school because it at home we can have some fun and go with our our boy/girlfriends to do some sex and we can forget about our homework.
SO DO IT! IT IS FUN!