Education Nation Book - Chapter 4

This chapter was called The Time/Place Edge.  The Time Edge was talking about the need for extended school hours to keep up with other countries.  I believe kids need longer school days in order to cover all necessary subjects in greater depth.  The 50-minute class periods the kids currently have do not allow the teacher enough time to teach the subject matter.  By the time everyone is seated and quieted down and attendance is taken, suddenly your 50-minute class period has been shortened to 30-35 minutes.  In that 30-35 minutes a teacher may have to stop instruction to handle disruption or answer questions.  With the time left in the day, you cannot get students to concentrate on the material being presented, nor is there enough time to dig deep into the instruction material. 

Longer school days would also limit the number of kids who stay home alone after school until their parent(s) get home from work.  I do believe that children need quality time with their families and also time to participate in after-school sports.  However, the majority of today's kids choose to spend their time after school playing on electronic devices rather than getting physical exercise.  Longer school days would allow time for a mandatory physical education class for all students. 

Other countries, and even some schools in the US, have already implemented the longer school year with shorter breaks instead of three months off in the summer.  The long summer break is when kids neglect practicing their reading and math, and choose to sit in front of the TV or computer instead.  Studies have found that during the long summer break students lose retention of the material learned the year before, causing the teachers to review last year's material before moving on to the new.  This, again, wastes time that could have been used for learning new material. 

The Place Edge refers to how we can incorporate subjects like history and civic duties into the curriculum by building schools close to museums, libraries, historical sites, etc.  To me, the idea seems like a no-brainer.  If the community has access to these public buildings, why not encourage kids to learn by getting some hands-on experience and use the facilities for what they are meant to be used for - teaching and learning.  The expense is little to none at these places.