Why We Should Have Longer School Hours

There have been many debates about having longer school hours. Some schools want longer school hours and some don’t. For example, Schools want longer school hours because they want their students to learn more and catch up on their work. The board of education should not extend the school day because it can cause health problems, stress , and money loss. Research shows that longer school days may result in failure of passing on tests. Longer school days may also result in additional hours for teachers and other teachers may have to be hired to work the extra hours. Teachers already arrive early to prepare for class, stay late to record grades, spend extra time preparing lessons and attend after-hours teacher meetings and parent-teacher conferences. Adding extra time to the school day also requires extra funding to cover the higher teacher salaries, supplement textbooks or resources and the cost of additional specialized educators. Citizens will also have to pay higher property taxes to cover the increased costs at public schools.

If students had longer school hours, students would get less sunshine. Less sunshine means less Vitamin D, and Vitamin D is very healthy for your bones. “School in itself takes up around 8 of those hours with travel to and from school and homework. Kids need about 10 hours of sleep. That leaves just 6 hours a day for family life, eating, sleeping, health care, physical activity, developing social skills, learning life skills, participating in extra circular activities and sports, religious instruction, reading and so on. Many of these things are just as important as school” ("Should school days be longer?"). We have about an average of 172 days in the school year and about 6.57 hours each day. Now, imagine doubling that amount of time. How much stress do you think you would put on in that amount of