4-Day School Weeks?

[matrix2613]

I've seen a few articles and goten into several discussions with teachers ove the possibility of having 4-day school weeks in Florida, but also in the rest of the country. I for one think this might be a great idea, to take off a Monday each week. It could save some teachers' jobs and also would give more free time to students. Energy savings would come from having an air conditioners/heaters turned off for an extra day, lower transportation costs for buses, not having to produce school lunches, lower janitorial costs, among others. It would also be more convenient to teachers when having to set up a dental or doctor visit by giving an extra day to schedule, giving the schools less substitutional needs. People may complain about having to find daycare for the child, but I think they should do whatever they do during summer vacation to take care of the kids. Other complaints might be that the kids' grades will be lower due to longer classes due to a shorter attention span, but this might not b the case. In my high school, we have 8 periods a day lasting 50 minutes each, with 6 minutes of passing time. An extra hour per day would only add about 8 minutes, and two hours would add 16 minutes per class, which shouldn't be to much a a problem.

 

 

 

Here are a few articles-

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 64,00.html

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyl ... 24?sp=true

 

 

 

So, the question is, are you for or against 4-day school weeks and why?

[Tbfgraphx14]

I really like this idea, but I don't really want to be in class until 5pm. But the friday off would be well worth it. And if you didn't take the friday off, every other week you could have a four day weekend. It also saves on gas for the ones who have a long commute.

[Jimmyw3000]

What about parents? they'll need to take time off work to look after their children.

 

 

 

And believe me, keeping (avg school size is around 1000ish in most cases iirc) 1000 homes, give or take a few costs a lot more than keeping 1 school open.

[Shazarabbit]

I've seen a few articles and goten into several discussions with teachers ove the possibility of having 4-day school weeks in Florida, but also in the rest of the country. I for one think this might be a great idea. It could save some teachers' jobs and also would give more free time to students. Energy savings would come from having an air conditioners/heaters turned off for an extra day, lower transportation costs for buses, not having to produce school lunches, lower janitorial costs, among others. It would also be more convenient to teachers when having to set up a dental or doctor visit by giving an extra day to schedule, giving the schools less substitutional needs. People may complain about having to find daycare for the child, but I think they should do whatever they do during summer vacation to take care of the kids. Other complaints might be that the kids' grades will be lower due to longer classes due to a shorter attention span, but this might not b the case. In my high school, we have 8 periods a day lasting 50 minutes each, with 6 minutes of passing time. An extra hour per day would only add about 8 minutes, and two hours would add 16 minutes per class, which shouldn't be to much a a problem.

 

 

 

Here are a few articles-

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 64,00.html

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyl ... 24?sp=true

 

 

 

So, the question is, are you for or against 4-day school weeks and why?

 

 

 

I actually disagree. Teachers are employed on a full time basis. They can only do so many hours a day that they will get paid for. A full time job entitles you to five shifts a week, totaling between 40 - 45 hours a week. All teacher are based on a salary, meaning they aren't paid by the hour. They do work before the students get there and stay after as well. That's alot of hours of unpaid work.

 

 

 

You won't be saving energy, you'll be using the exact same amount because you are still attending the same amount of time. You can set up many of those appointments on weekends. If something is really bad that they need an appointment asap then they should take the day off, taking a day off their sick leave which they are entitled too.

 

 

 

I think a two day weekend is long enough, be thankful for it seriously. When you graduate and start working, weekends no longer exist.

[Wisp]

I've seen a few articles and goten into several discussions with teachers ove the possibility of having 4-day school weeks in Florida, but also in the rest of the country. I for one think this might be a great idea. It could save some teachers' jobs and also would give more free time to students. Energy savings would come from having an air conditioners/heaters turned off for an extra day, lower transportation costs for buses, not having to produce school lunches, lower janitorial costs, among others. It would also be more convenient to teachers when having to set up a dental or doctor visit by giving an extra day to schedule, giving the schools less substitutional needs. People may complain about having to find daycare for the child, but I think they should do whatever they do during summer vacation to take care of the kids. Other complaints might be that the kids' grades will be lower due to longer classes due to a shorter attention span, but this might not b the case. In my high school, we have 8 periods a day lasting 50 minutes each, with 6 minutes of passing time. An extra hour per day would only add about 8 minutes, and two hours would add 16 minutes per class, which shouldn't be to much a a problem.

 

 

 

Here are a few articles-

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 64,00.html

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyl ... 24?sp=true

 

 

 

So, the question is, are you for or against 4-day school weeks and why?

 

 

 

I actually disagree. Teachers are employed on a full time basis. They can only do so many hours a day that they will get paid for. A full time job entitles you to five shifts a week, totaling between 40 - 45 hours a week. All teacher are based on a salary, meaning they aren't paid by the hour. They do work before the students get there and stay after as well. That's alot of hours of unpaid work.

 

 

 

You won't be saving energy, you'll be using the exact same amount because you are still attending the same amount of time. You can set up many of those appointments on weekends. If something is really bad that they need an appointment asap then they should take the day off, taking a day off their sick leave which they are entitled too.

 

 

 

I think a two day weekend is long enough, be thankful for it seriously. When you graduate and start working, weekends no longer exist.

 

 

 

It would save energy with buses, and driving. It still takes away two trips from the week.

[IGoddessI]

I disagree with 4 day weeks. You're at school to learn, not to go as little as possible. Sure extra 50 minutes a day but did you know if you cram too much in to one day your school's grades will go down? This will be destructive to your school's reputation and fewer parents will take their kids to a school where the average GPA is crap. The only time I agree with an extra day off is at the end of the week to use for STUDY if you're in year 12. Although when I was in school, they made study break periods where you could use it or lose it.

 

 

 

By the way if you're adding the extra hours on to class every day, it won't save the energy bill at all. After all, you'd only be substituting the exact same hours for the day you're taking away.

 

 

 

Honestly, if teachers want their students to learn more then they should be reconstructing their daily teaching programs. I for one, know just how much time was wasted by teachers, teaching useless crap that would never help 95% of their students get a job. Even in university, the amount of lectures that I didn't even bother to turn up to because it just required common sense.

 

 

 

People are taught that if you go to school, get good grades, go to university, get a degree, get a good job that they'll live a happy and wealthy life. Let me tell you, I made the most amount of money by ignoring what I learnt in school. I don't think it took rocket science to create "google" in a teenager's back garage either. Multi billionaires as a result. I didn't learn how to become self employed by obtaining a high op in year 12 and then going to study psychology. It doesn't even require much of an IQ to create an on going passive income. If you've read Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki, it'll tell you pretty much all you need to know about money and how to make it. Although within saying all of this, some people just enjoy learning, which is also good.

 

 

 

By the way doom, last time I checked a student's education and grades were more important than being energy sufficient or the cost of petrol/bus fares.

[Ginger_Warrior]

So... you destroy even more of a child's free time during four days, and leave them with nothing to do on the other while their parents have to go to work and possibly pay through the nose for childcare?

 

 

 

Something's telling me this is a bad idea.

[Nadril]

Yeah that's a horrible idea all around.

[IGoddessI]

By the way if they want their students to perform better then that just comes down to better parenting.

[Hedgehog]

In my school district we have 2 4-day weeks in a row. I'm beginning to think they're experimenting with the 4 day week to see how it works.

[IGoddessI]

In my school district we have 2 4-day weeks in a row. I'm beginning to think they're experimenting with the 4 day week to see how it works.

 

 

 

Wouldn't surprise me at all, it's all over the press. If they just looked at psychological studies, they wouldn't even have to experiment :wall:

[Hedgehog]

In my school district we have 2 4-day weeks in a row. I'm beginning to think they're experimenting with the 4 day week to see how it works.

 

 

 

Wouldn't surprise me at all, it's all over the press. If they just looked at psychological studies, they wouldn't even have to experiment :wall:

 

Maybe they just want me paranoid.

 

It won't work, Government! :ohnoes:

[mmmcannibalism]

I dont think 4 day school weeks are a good idea, sure a 3 day weekend sounds good but 4 days of 10 hours each would not be worth it. Would also really interfere with homework and extracurricular activities, sports would be much harder to schedule if getting out at 1 for a game meant missing 4 hours of school as opposed to 2 etc.

[Powman3]

You've NO idea how much free time I would like to myself. I would get more done and have more free time to do other things. And honestly I don't see much a problem with kicking one day off the school week plus keeping the same amount of time in the school day.

 

 

 

But also, some schools have block days, where you have 2-3 of your classes a day for 2-3 hours. It would cut down the time on those. This is a perfect example of my school.

 

 

 

I would agree having a schedule like this for some schools. There are schools out there who have enough trouble keeping their students in line.

 

 

 

This is my say, although for some people it might not make sense.

 

 

 

For everyone, though, and this includes me, we all voice what MIGHT happen, but we never know. Hell, this could be the most awesome thing for schools. Or it could be downright stupid. We won't know unless it happens.

[warren211]

I would prefer taking an hour off school so that we don't have to wake up as early. No matter how early you sleep, it's always a real [bleep] to wake up at 6 or 7 in the morning and it leads to student drowsiness in school.

[RichieMcD]

In Ireland we've a pretty good system which is running well. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays are all normal days, usually 8.45 till 3.30 but on Wednesdays it runs from 8.45 till 1.05 which always provides a nice break and something to look forward to.

 

 

 

Strangely enough, I'd prefer the 5 day system with 1-2 shorter days than 4 day system. I don't like being in school but I know how much I'll need all the classes for my wanted course at University level.

[Th3_Crusader]

My classes run 1 hour and 30 minutes, and we have 4 classes everyday, with 6 min passing.

 

It's hard to stay awake after 45 minutes let me tell you :lol:

 

I wrote an essay on this back in 8th grade. I wish it would happen, but I'm sure it won't.

[Orpheus]

This wouldn't be that great an idea. I think everyone here said what I was gonna say.

[Yes_Its_Ross]

I would just love 7 day school weeks. When the weekends come around I usually waste them, I'd rather just get done with school quicker.

[Riku3220]

If they take a day off of the school week then they need to add an extra hour to the remaining days or we're going to get nothing done. Honestly I think we need to go into a Japan style school system. Only Sundays off, trimesters, and every student has to have some extra curricular activity.

[Riku3220]

I think most of the posters on this thread are speaking from an adult point of view - as a kid, I don't want any school. I'd rather 1 day on, 1 day off year round.

 

 

 

The kid inside of me also wants to play video games and eat ice cream all day, but I guess that won't happen

[Lenticular_J]

I don't want to be in class until 5 or 6. I got enough [cabbage] on my plate; 5 days is fine. All my classes are fifty minutes, with 5 minute passing periods now. Some classes are longer. Got a forty minute lunch. Hate school anyways. It's stupid. I'm learning nothing I don't already know, or anything I'm interested in. My history teacher in particular isn't that bright - although I do admit she's smart enough to realize I know everything she tells us (easiest class ever).

 

 

 

I'm in a bad mood today.

[ThurinEthir]

Realistically, the current system is probably the most effective. If you put too many days between classes, students will start forgetting things. Over winter break, I did absolutely no writing, I barely knew how to pick up a pencil when I got back in school. :thumbup: (Of course, probably nothing would happen over 3 days, but you never know...)

 

My school always starts at 7:50, ends at a different time basically every day (2:20, 2:35, 2:55). The only thing I would ever think of supporting is starting 30-60 minutes later, and ending 30-60 minutes later.

 

Implementing a 4-day school week would make teachers have to assign more homework daily. And having less time to do homework each night too. Yeah, no thanks.

[IGoddessI]

Could you imagine if you had dinner around 5? What would you take to school??

[Giordano]

I thought this was an good idea, but after reading the previous posts and thinking a little, it's not such a good idea after all.

 

 

 

Having a three-day weekend every week would screw up memory, that's for sure. Kids won't remember what they did on Friday on the following Tuesday. I think the days should be kept the same, but the times changed.

 

 

 

Currently, my school has six 55 minute periods with a 7-minute break in between. If we shorted the class by just 10 minutes and break by one, we'll save up to 65 minutes. An entire hour. Instead of getting out at 2:47 we'll get out at 1:47 which would be awesome. That's probably the least extreme version though, but if we can get out between 1:47 and 2:15, I'll be a very happy boy.