Longer School Days: A Multi-Beneficial Idea
When people think of America, some think of our “greatness”, or how America is one of the “superpower” nations. They may think of our huge military strength, or the vast amount of unique cities we have scattered around this widespread country. But what do people think about our education system? Unfortunately, many individuals are unaware of the decline that our education system has suffered. For instance, Geoffrey Canada, president of the Harlem children’s zone, an organization whose goal is to increase graduation among students, says that many schools in the area don’t even have enough time to cover the entire curriculum during the day. This is just one of the many problems with America’s education system that needs to be fixed. It is especially concerning for the future generation, as they will have to compete with a global economy in where other countries such as Japan are advancing much more than America is in terms of education and innovation. Therefore, because America’s education system is in a rut from things like low test scores to high dropout rates, adding longer school days will be both beneficial to not only the system, but also to the parents, students and teachers. Extending the school day length will give low income students more academic opportunities while keeping them out of trouble, allow ESL (English as a second language) students to adjust comfortably to the school environment, give all students regardless of socioeconomic class to get a better education, enable teachers to cover the entire curriculum and check for understanding, and let parents save money while having a more flexible schedule.
Although America is not completely devoid of good schools and universities, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the U.S is falling behind in the classroom. According to ACT.org, the average ACT score in