Should kids go to school for four days a week instead of five?

[RandomAnthony]

The "four days a week" movement seems to be gaining momentum as schools look for ways to cut budgets...Illinois is the latest to consider it:

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/four.day...

Time had an article about it a while back, too.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/art...

What do you think? Pros/cons?

[janine]

the spaces in the first article are off, very distracting.

a four day schoolweek would mean longer days and less vacations so students wouldn't have to recover from their long days. the longer days would become so long the last hours would just be a waste of time. there is a limit to the amount of hours a person can concentrate during a day. and what about after school activities and homework? if it is just to cut budgets it is probably not advisable.

[Félix]

I agree with annigje.

[Mandy]

I went to a special magnet school that started at 7:45 am and ended at 4:00 pm. We were able to concentrate that long. Of course, we were all madly jealous of all the kids who got out at normal times. We did have less homework but there were no extracurricular activities.

But, what would parents do on the fifth day when their kids were home but they had to work?

[smetchie]

If it means shorter summer vacation and NOT longer days, I'm all for it! I think kids should go to school year-round, with breaks between each quarter. I think it would make their time more productive because they wouldn't need to be retrained each September.

[Dario]

I will 2nd 3rd and 4th this plan.
4 days of school instead of 5 its genius.
Less school and more summer.
Yeeeesssssssssssssssssss.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

I can see the upside to it, the efficiencies of not running the school buses on Friday, not having another day to pay teachers and custodians and provide cafeteria service. Yes, it makes sense that way. And as a kid, I would have been totally for it. Three day weekends? Yes, please!

But I know I would have slacked and not done any studying until Sunday. I was terrible about homework, and for kids like me, I needed to be in the classroom, hearing the lectures, with a decent amount of repetition, taking notes, to be learning what they wanted me to learn, instead of just reading fun stuff on my own.