Long School Days

The article that I read was about a school in Massachusetts that extended its school days in order to give teachers more time to teach their students. As a result, the school did better on state mandated exams. It is really hard to argue with this article, when it is pretty clear that extending school hours had a positive effect on the school. It would be ridiculous to stop this for the reason that students don't want to be in school any longer then they have to. All I know is I'm glad I finished high school before anyone thought of this.

Clearly extending the day does work because Massachusetts has seen a lot of results. However, how far are people willing to take this? The longer you make the school day, the more likely your going to cut into other things like after school activities and sports. Although educators may not see those things as a big deal, for the students it is. School is not just about learning, it is also where students gain socialization skills and it is a place where they can try out their skills. If extra curricular activities are taken away as well as sports, students might find it hard to socialize with other people. Also, the more time students are spending at school the less they are spending at home or at a job, which could effective their lives on a larger scale.