Should School Days be Longer?

When it comes to school days being longer, it would be unlikely that any student would be in favor of this idea. Not only would it not 100% guarantee better academic status from students, which would probably be the main goal, but it would also add more stress onto busy students trying to juggle outside commitments along with in school commitments. Another issue school districts would probably run into with this idea would be students giving less effort than they are now. Longer school days means students dreading it even more, meaning less ambition towards it. 

As a high school student, I can give many examples of things that students would not be able to do with longer school days. Students would have trouble playing sports, having a job, homework, and having a social life. It is hard enough to juggle all of these things with the length of school days as they are now, so it is nearly impossible that it would be able to happen with longer school days. This would cause more pressure on teenagers to be able to do a lot of things in a little amount of time.

Grand Canyon University says a pro to longer school days would be more time for learning. Overall, yes that is a factual statement, it does give more time for class. However, when you break it down and think about how teenagers are, it’s not that simple. The answer to making students learn better, pay attention more, or care more about their education is not by pushing it on them more. People in general, but especially teenagers, are definitely not more likely to do something by getting it pushed on them. They have to want it themselves. Grand Canyon University also says, ¨Some studies have been done that show that longer instruction time can improve achievement, but those results depend on things like classroom environment, quality of instruction, student prior knowledge and ability.¨ 

Overall, I would think this change would be an effort towards trying to change achievement from students and better education. However, it would only benefit some people, and those people are the ones who care about their education for themselves. These people are the same people who benefit from school as it is now. This is not a solution that will change the students who don’t give effort. Nothing can change those students except their own mindsets.