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 The Length of a School Day 
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In discussing The Daily Grind, my grouped questioned the length of the school day. Would school be better if the day was shorter, so teachers could do all the important things and not give busy work? Is the length just right, and teachers just need to change the way their classroom operates, or does the day need to be longer to incorporate more into each day of school.

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Leslie Woody


Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:42 pm
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I don't think you could ever find a perfect length. If you made it shorter you wouldn't have enough time to teach everything that you are required to teach. If you made the days longer children would stop listening and become disobedient because they would get so bored of sitting in their desk all day. I guess the length that they are now is right.

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Melissa Cooke


Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:30 pm
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I think the school day now is a good length. In the end; however, it comes down to how well the teacher or school itself is organized. There's so much information to cover in such a short period of time already that shorten the day would add to all the stress. I know one of my friends believe instead of the school days being too short that the school year itself is too short. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that though. I think students need a break from all the work their required to do. You don't want the kids to get burned out at such young ages and end up hating everything about school itself.

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Elizabeth Puckett


Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:54 pm
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I think that the length of the school day is reasonable. I don't think its too long if the school and teacher are well organized and if the teacher can keep the children interested in the task at hand. I feel that if it was shorter then there wouldn't be enough time to teach the material we need to teach and if it was longer, the children as well as the teachers would be drained.

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Amanda Davidson


Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:39 pm
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My grandparents were missionaries in Chile, and thats where my Dad went to school until he went to university. There was a British school there, and the day was from about 8 am to about 7 or 8 pm. Granted, it wasn't all studying. You were required to participate in some sort of "afterschool activity" that could range from theater, to sports, to chess club, to pretty much anything. A "tea" was served sometime in the middle of the afternoon, and then some students went back to "activities" while others took an extra night class. At least thats the way he described it to me, and it was about 30 years ago. However, I think that a long day like that would encourage students to particpate more in extracurricular activites, and we could extend the length of classes so the teahcer were not rushed to get through 3 hours worth of material in 75 minutes.

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Amy Middleton


Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:17 pm
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I think the length of the school day is enough now, but I could see a could case for lengthening it to 5 o'clock to help out parents who cannot be there at 3:30. I'm sure this is done now, but it is probably implemented more like a babysitting service in many cases. If it were done for all students, you could have two periods of more recreational activity. It could be run kind of like our intramural system with kids choosing which sports or activities they would like to participate in. If they chose a sport for their first recreation period, they would choose art, music or some other creative endeavor for the second. Kids don't get enough of a break during the school day, and I think it probably contributes to a lot of discipline issues. Offering choice, variety, and a mental break would be great and the longer school day would coincide better with 1st shift parents, though admittedly not as well for 2nd shifters.

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Neal Rainey


Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:42 pm
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I am not sure if lengthing the school day would help anything. If it was me I would hate a longer school day. I remmeber waiting to hear that bell ring so I could go home and get outside and do things on my own. If we lengthened the school day. What would happened to the independence you had when you go out of school and I know it doesn't happen in all families, but the family time. Do we want our children spending all the time of their day at school? We were required to come home do out homework then we had time outside to do whatever we choose then we all came in for dinner and family time. If we lengthened the school day would families really have time together if the children still had to do their homework and chores?? I know education is important and time is rushed in school but what is more important for the children in younger grades?

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Kimberly Winecoff


Sun Sep 26, 2004 3:57 pm
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Within a school day there is more learning going on besides what is happening in the classroom. Social skills are being learned during recess and physical abilities are being developed during PE and after school. Overall, I believe schools are eliminating those extra times during and after the school day and these are the periods when kids get/need a mental break. I think if the school day remains at its present length, students would benefit from more purposeful, meaningful breaks.

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susan meadows


Sun Sep 26, 2004 9:17 pm
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I feel that the school day now is long enough. There is plenty of time to get the things done that needs to be done. However, a teacher must stay on top of things. I have observed that as the day wears on, they starting acting up alot more. If the school day was any longer, the teacher would accomplish nothing.

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Elizabeth Cooner


Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:48 am
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i personally think that making the day shorter would help out the most. This would keep teachers from giving kids tons of busy work like you said. also kids might become more moviated to come to school knowing that teachers could be better prepared, no "busy work" and they dont half to go the whole day and can then have more time to just be a kid.

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Telena Snyder


Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:46 pm
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:idea: The Europeans (or at least some countries) have all the answers. No, I am just being the devil's advocate, but I do love the split day program that many other countries have. The school and work day start around 9am and they work for about 4 hours. From 1pm to 3pm everybody goes home for lunch (their biggest meal of the day) and a rest. Everyone goes back to work and school around 3pm and they stay for 3 or 4 more hours. It breaks up the monotony, stretches the day later into the evening, and it allows for a little more sleep in the mornings.

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Nina Pinto


Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:03 pm
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I believe that shorter days are better especially for younger kids. They are already loosing their PE time so that means that they have even more energy stored up by setting in the classroom. It just would more beneficial.

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Amy Drum


Mon Nov 01, 2004 12:44 pm
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I for one think that kids could benefit from shorter school days. younger kids would have more time to just play and discoveer on their own, while older kids could be encouraged to use the time to work on creative projects on their own or with friends. However, it would be difficult to sell many parents on the idea of shorter school days since it would mean thet their kids would be left unattended for longer periods of time.


Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:57 pm
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If anything, it should be a little shorter, but I think it is a good length now. Any longer and the students would lose their attention.
And I for one had a job at 4:00 on most school days, so having school let out around 2:15 allowed me to do this.
Not to mention that if the day ran to 5:00, us teachers would be overwhelmed since we'll be grading papers and preparing lessons the rest of the evening. There's just not enough time to have the day run a few hours longer.

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Jon Barth


Tue Nov 16, 2004 4:36 pm
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