At the store this evening, I walked past a newsstand for the local paper and saw the headline announcing that there will be extended hours for the elementary schools when the next year begins in August. I skimmed the article and I'm appalled - the new elementary school hours will be 8:00 am until 3:30 pm. The superintendent's justification for this time modification was to bring the district "into compliance." (With what?)
When I lived in Washington DC, I had a 35-hour workweek at my place of employment. I went to work at 8 am, had a 1-hour lunch break in the middle, and was done at 4 pm. This is just 30 minutes shy of that, not including that students most likely must be in their seats when the bell rings at 8, necessitating being at the school at least 5-10 minutes before to get to their seats in the first place. And somehow, I really doubt that any of those kids will get anything close to a full hour to eat lunch and take a break.
So in other words, this is a full workday required of adults and foisted on children as young as 5. Wow. I'm stunned and horrified that this is what our public education system is and does to children. (Oh, and NO TALKING.) Yay for the option to homeschool!
2 comments:
probably into compliance with working parents who don't like arranging child care.
Won't more time sitting in school get the kids to pass those standardized tests? If they had play time they would just develop their imaginations. I think the school board needs to think outside the box.
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