Extending School Hours would Benefit Students

Extending the school day would benefit students academically, socially and physically from the extra time. Students would be able to increase their knowledge through the extra time they have in class. They would interact more socially as a result of more interactive classes added to the school day. Benefits from specific physical education classes would be possible because they could take sports they enjoy. Although these changes might be expensive, students would have a more enjoyable but challenging time at school.

Students would expand their knowledge in academics because they would learn more than the basics. For example, students would have a more in-depth study of their material. This is usually limited at schools because teachers do not have enough time to teach anything that is not required by the school district. They would also have time for more interactive or group activities during class. Discussion on a topic is limited to a few minutes after the lesson is finished. They would also learn multiple ways to solve problems, especially in math, when students only have time to learn the way the teacher solves these problems. Lastly, students with disabilities or lack of skills can have those problems addressed and fixed. Although schools already cover these areas of learning, it is not enough that they do it in infrequently. Students would be more challenged at school if they were able to participate more actively in class.

Students’ social skills would be improved through extra electives they could take. Examples of the kind of classes they could take are specific arts, exploration, robotics and language. Specific arts, such as painting, drawing and sculpture, are usually not available. Exploration classes, such as science labs, robotics and less popular foreign languages, are not available at all schools either. This is because schools want to conserve money. The school is condensing them into general classes that cover these topics. One might argue that schools cannot afford these classes. A solution would be to have students vote for what they want. The can take classes that they actually enjoy. These classes would encourage more student interaction which would teach students to be well rounded instead of focusing only on academics.

Physical education is also another course that is limited because there are not enough periods in the day. Some students do not like to take the condensed physical education courses right now because they are condensed to teach different sports of varying intensity and the social skills and science that these sports involve. By splitting these classes into specific sports, such as football, basketball, soccer, badminton and gymnastics, students will actually participate more intensely because they find that specific sport interesting. In order for this and the above-mentioned changes to be possible, teachers and staff members must change the way they work in school.

Teachers and staff members are a matter of concern because they control the students’ classes and activities. They would need to be paid more than they are currently being paid because they are on campus longer. Although it would be tiring for teachers to teach for so long, a solution is to hire more teachers and they could teach at different times during the day. Furthermore, teachers would also find it enjoyable to teach the extra activities and interesting material they do not have time to teach. In this situation, the cost may be a problem, but the benefits outweigh the costs.

In conclusion, a longer school day would benefit students more than a shorter day would. They would have more time for teacher instruction, and be more challenged. Time for electives that improve social skills would be possible. Students would also be healthier if they had specific sports as classes for physical education. Regardless of the cost to make all of this possible, the outcome and gains from these changes would make the school a better place to be.