A four-day school week is ineffective, inauspicious and probably one of the worst ideas ever created. A four day school week does not help students and it’s an idea designed to fail. It creates a very long day for students of all ages, parents will be struggling to find daycare for their younger ones, and students will not be able to fully participate in extracurricular activities.
Too many school hours
A three day weekend may sound like a dream for most students, but spending 8 – 10 hours at school everyday, it’s just a nightmare. School days will start at 8am and won’t end until 5pm. Students will learn less because their concentration will fade away by the end of their extended days, especially younger students. Keeping children seated for more than two hours is already hard enough, so why struggle to keep them seated for 10 hours when the results are just nothing? Many students will be forgetting the things they’ve learned due to a three day weekend, so that basically makes the stressful 10 hours spent at school all worthless. Schools still have to give students the same amount of work as before, but now they only have less time to do so. Compressing one hundred eighty five days of work into one hundred forty days will only add pressure to the students. The school days are so long that finding any time to study is extremely difficult. The shorter the study time, the higher the proportion of students who fail. The school’s role is to bring each student to their maximum academic potential, not to make their grades drop. With the amount of pressure students have to handle, many will be dealing with serious consequences connected to mental and physical health issues. Spending 10 hours at school and going home just to spend another two to four hours to finish your homework? Even adults can’t take that amount of pressure. With the pressured hours students have to spend at school, these long days may negatively affect student’s learning attitudes and their achievements. Student attitudes on learning determine their ability and willingness to learn. If students cannot maintain a good learning attitude, they are unlikely to continue their education beyond what is required and that may influence their future career opportunities. Despite the amount of hours students spend at school, the struggle also goes to the parents.
Child care fees can be a burden on some families.
Since most parents work five days a week, they must now spend money on childcare for their younger children. But finding childcare is not easy. Childcare for just one day may be very difficult and extremely costly. Parents who have more than one child can easily solve that problem, but think about the lower – income families. Paying for childcare may not be a relevant option for them. The average cost for one day of childcare is anywhere from $30 to $40, but that can add up quickly throughout the school year. This new schedule may force some families into serious problems like having to move to a new place just for a suitable school or simply have their kids drop out. Either situation is bad and all families want to avoid those problems. Longer weekends can also increase the risk of teens being involved in drugs, smoking, drinking and other illegal actions, especially when their parents aren’t around to watch them and help them make better decisions. In Colorado, United States, the percentage of juvenile crime increased by 73% whenever a school changed their school schedules from five to four days. These crimes occurred mostly on weekends when students were out of school and away from their parents. “When students have additional unsupervised time, it may facilitate opportunities to engage in risky sexual behaviors. Although not all teens will capitalize on these opportunities for risk-taking, the weekly absence of parents or guardians during the Monday workday may afford students with extended time to fraternize with members of the opposite sex without supervision.”
– (Dian Cai, 2012, April 30). Teenagers may not realize how risky their behavior is and the long-term impact it could have on their health. Many suspects that three-day weekends could contribute to the rebound of the teen pregnancy rate because of the insufficient adult supervision on Fridays. “Around 20 teens aged 15 to 18 visit health clinics, the majority of them are seeking services including birth control and STD testing and treatment.” – (Dian Cai, 2012, April 30). Lack of adult supervision is the main reason for risky behaviors among teenagers and a four day school week is the main reason for the lack of adult supervision. In addition to the amount of parents struggling to find daycares and teens making bad choices, the number of extracurricular activities will also be decreased due to time constraints.
Fewer chances for extracurricular activities.
Longer school days mean less time for after school extracurricular activities. The four-day school schedule will not leave time for additional activities throughout the week. This idea would force children to either start their extracurricular activities late in the day at the end of school, or participate early in the morning before school. Extracurricular activities usually happen after school, which means some students wouldn’t make it back home until 8pm that night. Sleeping late and waking up early will negatively affect students’ health and may eventually lead to sleeping disorders. Sleeping disorders can poorly influence students’ performance at school, cause strain in relationships, and impair their ability to perform daily activities. Extracurricular activities offer students the opportunity to learn something that could stay with them for a lifetime and gives students a good opportunity to blend in with their peers in something they all enjoy and love. It provides a great opportunity to develop their social skills, meet new friends and become more confident communicating in groups. “According to a study by Steven Wesley Craft from the University of Southern Mississippi, students who immerse themselves in carefully selected school activities are more likely to outperform their peers academically, even beyond high school.” – (Steven Wesley Craft, April, 8th, 2020). Extracurricular activities help students to expand their networks, which can be beneficial when finding career opportunities after graduation. “Extracurricular activities can add more personality to a resume and improve the quality of the student’s overall job application.” – (WES Advisor, October 14, 2019). Lack of participation will interfere with some students getting into college or applying for future career jobs. Extracurricular activities are also important for personal satisfaction, and a motivation for students to go to school.
It should now be clear that the four day school week idea should be rejected because of the extended time students have to spend at school, the amount of struggle parents have to overcome, and the lack of extracurricular activities. Research has shown that compressing the school week to four days has little to no impact on students’ academic performance and only affects negatively on their learning. The education system needs to think more consciously about their ideas next time, and be sure to not create another outrageous idea like the four day school week.