Education and the 4-day school week!

Listening to CNN’s Headline News yesterday afternoon there was an item for which they were soliciting listeners comments. When I heard what was to be discussed I sat up in my chair and said, “W – H – A – T!!!!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The topic for discussion: “Should the school week be shortened to 4 days in order to save money?” Evidently a sufficient number of school districts are considering this drastic move to warrant a general discussion of the subject matter HLN.

I will be interested in your comments, but first here are my thoughts.

Why would we be shortening our school days when we are already running drastically behind other countries in the level of academic achievement from our students? Wouldn’t a shorter school week simply cause us to fall further behind?

Several countries, as well as private schools in this country run a 6-day school week and are making huge advances in the student’s abilities. Wouldn’t it be wiser to length the week instead of making it shorter? Are we really willing to sacrifice the education of our young men and women in order to save a dollar or two?

We seem to be always experimenting with our school systems and what do we have to show for it?

While going to school in Nashville one of the “sister” campuses was George Peabody College for Teachers (now a part of Vanderbilt University). George Peabody had an experimental school where new and different approaches to education were tried out to see if they really work. Those of us, in the college community, were aware of some of the experiments that were tried and proven to be ineffective. To my great surprise, after I graduated from college and then seminary returning to Florida with a young son and daughter about to enter the school system in Miami, to discover that the Miami School System was implementing some of the very things that George Peabody Experimental School had tried and found wanting.

Don’t we ever learn? … evidently not, because here comes around the 4-day school week discussion all over again - some educators and parents are for it, some are not. And in the balance our children become guinea pigs and are the ultimate losers. Let’s hope that the almighty dollar doesn’t win out at the detriment of the most precious resource we are privileged to handle through life … the lives and minds of our children!

Quote for today: Bok's Law: If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.