for this generation of students to remain competitive with their international peers as adults, they need to start spending more time in school. This week
president obama proposed that american school children extend their time in class, either by lengthening the school day, or spending less time on summer vacation.
“we can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when america was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day,” obama said. He continued to say “that calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in south korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy.”
in fact, american children spend the least amount time in the classroom when compared to other countries. Currently, the school year length in the states is 180 days. Advocates are pushing further toward a 200-day school year, which would align with thailand, scotland and the netherlands, and leave us a close second with israel, south korea and japan, who leads with a 243-day school year.
