According to the 1983 A Nation at Risk report, students in the United States spend 30 percent less time in school than their peers in the industrialized world. A movement to increase the amount of time students spend in school never took hold, but I propose that time is the central problem in our school systems.
Our school year follows the agrarian calendar despite the fact that we are now a service economy. There is no reason for this. Students forget what they learned over the summer and spend the first month of the new school year reviewing. School should be year-round to prevent the loss of material over the summer, and the school year should be longer than 180 days to allow students and teachers time to immerse themselves in material.
The school day should be longer as well. A 2007 Washington Post article described the turn-around in a Washington, D.C., middle school that switched to a year-round calendar with a 12-hour school day. The day included three meals, a break for sports and clubs and a mandatory study hall. The results were amazing: 50 percent of sixth graders read at grade level when they entered the school, but by the end of their eighth grade year, 90 percent of them were at grade level. Compare these results to the most recent standardized test scores; according to the September 26, 2007, New York Times, reading scores either stayed the same or fell last year.
If we increase the amount of time students spend in school, think of all the things that could be done in that time: elaborate science experiments, math competitions and games, debates in English class and projects in history. Think of the art, music and drama courses that could return to schools and help keep students in school. Think of the enrichment opportunities that could be offered to students who are struggling if there were a few more hours in the school day.
I know that parents will fight against a longer school day because they want time for their kids to be kids. But think about it, many kids today are overscheduled, running from school to soccer practice to piano lessons and then to karate. Education should be the priority in a child's life, because without it, it doesn't matter that a child can play the piano or kick a ball if they lack the skills to get a job that will support them after graduation.
I know that this plan will be expensive, but isn't education the key to success? Shouldn't education be the priority of a country that wishes to remain a super power in the technologically advanced 21st century? If we don't spend the money now to fix our education system, the United States may be left behind.
Jen Krieg is a senior integrated language arts major.
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Letter to the Editor
