4 day school week?

J&K10910

So as I was sitting here, wondering why the brat across the hall is home every Friday, I remembered hearing on the news last spring that some schools here were considering a 4 day school week for the little 'uns.  So I started googling, and sure enough.  They say it's for energy and electric savings.  How do you feel about it?Bonus question:  Does (do) your cat(s) bury his/her(their) food?

salt78

Kids don't go to school nearly enough. And no, they do not.

Night_Sprite

If they do a longer day, it is supposed to be a wash.  Although, if Obama has anything to say about it, they'll probably be back in school on Fridays.

mocha beans

I think it might work better.  Because come Thursday or Friday, my brain was shot and mostly useless.  Leaves more time for working a part time job or doing extracurriculars too.

tlv204

I would love it I think. I always love longer weekends. I'm assuming those 4 days would be longer though? I think I'm still ok with it. I might change my mind after a  longer day with them though...bonus fail, I don't have cats. But I am getting a puppy in approximately 3 weeks!

[Deleted User]

Do their parents have to find day care for the 5th day? That would be like a nightmare for me. Yuck. No, I buy their food. That's a silly question, J&K.

kate51485

What I don't like about it is that while it may be saving the school money, it could very well end up costing the families a lot more if they have 2 working parents and need to find child care for that day off.  I don't think that's very fair.

ricksang

I am indfferent. I have a 4 day school day this semester though and it rocks! No my cats don't do that but they frikkin circle the bowls like they are just staaaaaarrrrving to death when the bowls are empty. We put them on diets so they can just act that way, whatever.

J&K10910

And Saturdays, Night.  That would making me happy ;)Aside from my bias against the kid himself being around here more, I'm torn.  I can't see it making THAT much of a difference in energy costs.  I also think that a longer school day is a lot of school in one day for younger kids with shorter attention spans and more energy. 

Nebb

I think its stupid. We (our generation and older) were perfectly capable of learning efficiently for 5 days a week. Why change a good thing.

MeaghanandMichael

Compared to the rest of the world, our agrarian based school calendar leaves a lot to be desired in teh academic excellence department. Teachers will hate me for saying this but I think the school year should be longer and more intense. I also happen to be a huge dork who loves school.

RachNRich

I would have loved a 4 day week when I was in school---but, as an adult, I think its ridiculous. Bonus--no, he has no time to, the dog swoops in and eats it all.

ricksang

In your case JK, the kid should be in school everyday 15/7!

mocha beans

Bonus question fail too.  Mine don't bury food, but scarf it down like they haven't eaten in weeks, and make a huge ruckus until they're fed.

betrothed123

When I was in school and was going 5 days a week, by the time my last class or 2 came around I was tired, bored, and done paying attention.  Adding time to my days so that I didn't have to be there on Friday would have made it even worse.  Plus, I was a swimmer.  On nights we had a meet I didn't get home until 10:300 or 11 some nights.  It would have been even later if the day was longer.  High school is supposed to be preparing you for college ands the real world.  The majority of the real world work 5 days a week, not 4.  For those reasons I don't like the idea of a 4 day school week.

J&K10910

I'm not sure about the 5th day.  I would guess parents are stuck figuring out what to do with their kids.  They were talking about running programs at the schools, but that would completely negate anything saved, of course.And I ask, because when we give our weirdo cat wet food, when she's done picking at it, she immediately starts pawing dry food (or dragging newspaper over there sometimes) out of her food dish to try to "bury" her wet food.  I've never seen a cat do that before.

kikibaby

That would be really hard for parents who work full time.My cat acts like she is burying her food sometimes- does the digging thing.

betrothed123

I missed the bonus wuestion:No, he doesn't bury his food, but he does bury strings in his food.  He also scratches the bottom of his dish if it's empty, as if he's digging for more food.

J&K10910

Betrothed, I was a swimmer too.  That was a big thing--extracurriculars and how late kids would be at school.  I know in my case, I was at school during swim season at 530 for morning practice (so probably 5 with the longer days) and I didn't get home from practice after school until at least 6.  And yes, depending on where meets were, we'd get home pretty late.  That seems like a ridiculous amount of time spent at school.

mocha beans

I'm with Meaghan on the all year thing.  Maybe do a 4 day week all year, with a few 2 week breaks, and Fridays can be a more intensive extracurricular activities day.

J&K10910

I like your plan Mocha, but to play devil's advocate and follow the reasoning (here at least) for it, that wouldn't save any energy.  We're all about saving energy, apparently.  That, and Mayo taking over the world.  But you know.

laurenclaire1386

If I had to go to school five days a week, these kids should too, dammit.  I don't think leaving the lights off 1 day a week at a school is gonna save that much money.  Bonus Question-I don't have cats.  But my dogs take pieces of food from their bowl over to the dining room rug and eat over there.  They trot back and forth til they're done eating.  Morons.

J&K10910

Haha, Lauren, my cat does that too.  Sometimes she takes it piece by piece, halfway across the kitchen, drops it on the floor and then eats it, or she takes a mouthful, brings it halfway across the kitchen, drops it all and then eats it one by one.

kate51485

Meaghan and Mocha -- FWIW, there was one year-round school in my district and their test scores were always higher than everybody else's, so maybe being in school more is a good thing. 

MeaghanandMichael

On energy saving: Considering all the energy used by families on weekends/summers/school vacays on everything from video games, to going to the movies, to flying to Disney, to driving to 18347839 activites... you might not make out as well as you think.

mocha beans

Yeah, not saving energy, I agree.  But I think cutting school hours to save energy now is going to screw us in the end.  Smart people will come up with the next energy revolution, and smart kids come from a good education, which we are lacking in, globally speaking.  At least that's my hope.

J&K10910

Very true, in the long run and in the "energy" sense.  But we'd be kidding ourselves if we didn't acknowledge that the school board is doing this to save some money.I think what they're doing this year is implementing it in a few schools and comparing test scores, energy cost savings, etc, to determine if they'll implement it district wide.  I could be mistaken though, I couldn't find a ton of info.

J&K10910

And Ricks, I couldn't agree more

betrothed123

Even if that one day a week saves them a ton of energy, the trade off is not worth it.  Energy saving is not more important than teaching our youth.It's hard enough after 2 days off to come back Monday morning and focus.  After a 3 day weekend it would take the teachers at least half a day to get us back into focus.  That's a lot of time that should have been spent learning that wasn't.

whitsy

I have no issue with a 4 day school week, but I do think that how we feel on a Friday (shortened attention span, bored, etc.) will eventually start happening on Thursday.If schools really want to save money, they should look into how we do school, with the year-round schedule, 9 weeks on and 2 weeks off. It equals out to 8 weeks of breaks, and 8 weeks of summer. Way more energy savings.

[Deleted User]

Kate is the only difference the fact that children go year round? Is there testing to get into the school? I teach in England and we have 5 more school days then US schools, but the school year is set up differently. I have one more week of school before a week off, then 6 weeks then two weeks off. Each term is set up this way. After the 3rd term we have a 6-7 week summer break. When US kids are tested against other countries it is not really fair. The US tests all children and puts them in the same pot, whereas other countries only test children who have tested into certain schools or programs. So the children with autism I teach now are not included in the UK's results, children in the US with autism ARE included thought they have different tests.