How do you feel about longer school days, a longer school year and...?

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I agree with mom to 3 under 10, longer school days (by longer I mean till dinner time) should be offered but not mandatory. But having said that I think all year schooling is good, workplaces are all round and school is a preparation for working life. So you can't get children used to sitting on their a*s three months of the year. The only days off from school should be weekends and holidays, so no spring/march break and summer break and only three days (Christmas, Christmas Eve, new years day) instead of winter break. Schooling should be 10 hours a day (7am-5pm) and parents (not the children lol!) should be given the option to keep their children in school, till 8pm if they feel their child needs more education or it works better with the family schedule. And school should finish at 16/17 and start at 3yrs. Ending school earlier gives teens the opportunity to get jobs and study for university and/or their careers.

I'm 14 years old by the way.

I like the idea of year round school with 1-2 week breaks between terms. It seems that the first term every year after the summer break is spent re-hashing what was learned the previous school year. Seems wasteful at a time when their minds are like little sponges and eager to learn. I don't necessarily believe that the days should be longer, though. Many moons ago when I was a corporate trainer, I saw firsthand that people visibly tuned out after a certain period of time. We all have a tendency to do so after being held captive to lessons for so long, and children are no different. I would say dinner at school is not such a great idea, as I enjoy family dinner time and the bonding it fosters. I suppose for some kids it could be a good thing, though... those who don't have a stable home environment or those who do not have enough food at home. For the most part I'd still say it's not a great idea.

I don't think that year round school (just more breaks in between rather than a huge long summer break) is such a bad idea. Kids can really forget a lot of what they learned when they are out of school for a whole 2 1/2 to 3 months. Plus families would have a lot of different opportunities to go on trips.

But keeping them in school all day to where they'd be eating dinner at school would be insane, and a terrible idea. Young kids really cannot sit in school for that long. That would seriously be like 9 or 10 hours. And parents would basically never even see their kids during the week. Dinnertime is often a time that parents like to have their families together and talk with their kids about their day. There also wouldn't really be time for after-school activities. And assumin they would still give kids homework, then the younger children with earlier bedtimes would basically just go home, do homework, and go right to bed, with absolutely no free time or time to play.

No to longer school days. Most kids are already done for the day by 2-3pm, and it would be hard for more learning to occur later in the afternoon. They need to be outside playing or having the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities or their own interests.

I would support the idea of year-round school with a shorter summer break and more frequent 1-2 week breaks. That would help eliminate all the wasted time each fall going back over information the children lost over the summer.

I would not want my children to get dinner at school. Evenings are family time in our house, and we eat dinner together at the table nearly every night. Longer school days with dinner being served at school would only benefit those children who go home every day to watch hours of TV and then go to bed with little to no family time or structure or educational experiences in the evening. So I guess I would support a district offering such an option to those families, but I would not want it to be mandatory.

I agree with longer days and a longer school year, but not that long of a day. I would think that a 7.5-8 hour day would suffice. All the same, what matters most is how that extra time was being used. Would it assure that children are getting a proper recess every day? That physical education, art, and music are back in the curriculum? That is how I would like to see that time spent. And sorry, but I just don't see why children need 10 weeks straight of summer break. I could see 4 weeks straight - that is a good break but not so long that they lose what they've learned. This could also work well with extending other breaks, such as winter, to 2 weeks.

I wake up in the morning and Karen is already gone. I'm the only one home. I get ready and I get to school for 8:40am. I have class till 11:28am. Lunch is till 12:40- I spend lunch with my english teacher more often than not because we are friends. School ends at 3:21pm. I get home at around 4:00pm. Karen gets home about three hours later (7:00pm). I can do my homework during those three hours (yes, it does take that long- I'm in a special program). She makes dinner- Probably takes her a half hour to an hour. So it's about 7:30pm-8:00pm when I can start to make my own dinner- because I am vegetarian. I eat in my room. Takes about a half hour. So it's 9:00pm-9:30 pm. I go to bed and repeat the process the next day. I'm in grade 8- 14 years old. I spend more time with my teachers than I do mother, father or four siblings.

No, I do not think longer school days would be better.

I think the school day is long enough already, but I support year round schooling with a couple weeks break during the year. I think when kids go on summer vacation they lose too much knowledage of what they learned, and I think year round schooling would help with that.

I'd prefer a shorter break for summer and shorter school days instead. Longer everything is not appealing to me at all. If the kids need more time to learn everything there is to learn, extend high school to grade 13. I'd rather that my kids go to school an extra year (added to the end NOT the beginning) than spend even more time each day at school.

I feel it's a bunch of crap :) I don't want to spend 40+ hours away from my children.

People argue that you spend more hours with your children anyhow than the school does. They forget to take into account that 10 hours of that "more time" are spent sleeping :/

We choose home schooling for many reasons. This is one of them. We enjoy school year round, and we work at our own pace.

I do not think that the school day or the school year needs to be longer.