Ruffin 1

Mekielia Ruffin

English 112

Professor Martis

November 02, 2008

Public School Systems Lengthening the School Day and School Year

            Education has been a big issue in our economy today.  It really doesn’t seem like children are getting the education that they need to make it in society.  The problem seems to be that children are just getting pushed through so they can graduate and are not really learning the fundamentals of life as they should.  Some of the teachers in the public school system don’t really seem to care about the well being of the students so that doesn’t help the situation.  The public school systems feel that in order for the children to get the proper education that they need the school year and the school day extended.

            My first issue with public schools lengthening the school day and year is that parents will be affected by this change as well.  As we all know parents that have their children on a set routine every day as far as getting up for school, arranging the time for them to get to school, after picking up the child or having them catch the bus to get home at a certain time etc.  Lengthening the school day will do nothing but cause this routine to change.  Such as parents being late for work, or having to adjust getting off work early or later to pick up their child or whatever the case may be.  Honestly lengthening the school day will only hinder peoples everyday lives.

            My second issue with the public school lengthening the school day and year is that the child will not be focused, meaning a child is also used to their everyday routine.  Lengthening the school year will hinder the children's attention span in school mean that they will be more focused on how much longer they have to say in school then on what they need to be focused on.  Stoops hits it right on the head when he makes a valid point and states that, “You find a number of countries that ore on top of the achievement ladder do not necessarily have longer school days or school years, and those at the bottom don't necessarily have shorter days and shorter years.  The perfect example is Mexico.  And Mexican students spend a lot of time in school more than many other nations out there—yet they are one of the lowest-performing schools of the world.”(Stoops, Friday Interview)   There are some children that can't be changed and that are troubled and don't care about school but honestly lengthening the time in school is not going to change the child's attitude on getting an education.  The public school system needs to put their focus elsewhere.

            My third issue with lengthening the school day and year is the public school systems teachers.  Some teachers just don't care about the education of students and so lengthening the school will do nothing but give them more time to show that a child's education at hand is not important to them.  Don't get me wrong there are some great teachers out there but a lot of children don't get that opportunity to get that perfect teacher.  The public school system needs to weed out the bad teachers and replace them with new teachers that are about giving a good education to children.

            Another issue with lengthening the school year is the all the money that would be wasted into this project.  I agree with John Moir when he states, “I find it disquieting to contemplate the prospect of a longer year draining away hundreds of millions of dollars while far more urgent educational priorities are neglected.”(Moir, Lengthening School Year)   There are definitely more educational priorities that are being neglected such as supplies for school, school equipment, books, conditions of the schools , etc.  Maybe if the school environment around children was cleaner and taken better care of they might appreciate it more.

            My solution to kids receiving a better education is not lengthening the school year or day but rather getting some of the teachers in the school system to care about these children enough to want to teach them instead of letting them go through the motions.  Many teachers, not all, are just doing the minimum in their job description.  If some of these teachers cared about their students,  maybe the students would start giving more attention to their education.  What needs to happen is curriculum for the publics schools needs to become more strict and teachers that are passionate about their job need to take over and educate these children for a better future.

            If a child knows that the teacher genuinely cares about their well being and is there to help them then they would focus more on their education but a lot of times that is not the case.  I have experienced terrible myself in the past as a child  so I know what is going on in these schools.  The teacher feels like all they have to do is give out the work and the child should know what to do,

 which is wrong.  The purpose of a young child being in school is to learn how to do things.  They are not adults yet so they just can't pick up on it without being taught how to do it. Thats the major problem in the school systems that needs to change.  The public school system is focusing too much time on the wrong solution to an ongoing problem. Hopefully in the future things will change.