Williams: Why a Longer School Day Could Make Learning More Compelling for Kids — and Life Less Stressful for Parents

Conor P. Williams wrote for The 74 about longer school days for children and its benefits.

The history of the United States is a series of efforts to establish (and re-establish) policies and public institutions capable of delivering the promise of the Declaration of Independence. For instance, many years ago, we realized that our political system was fostering un-democratic concentrations of wealth and inhumane labor conditions, so we instituted anti-monopoly laws, passed a progressive income tax, and recognized collective bargaining rights.

It’s not a clean process, and it often takes far too long. But it works, piece by piece, as our decentralized political system shuffles up to imperfect ways of making America better at living up to its core promises. Education reforms are no different: In so many ways, our schools are built for an earlier version of American society and economy. Structural changes can help make them work better for children and families.

The lag in these reforms even shows up in schools’ schedules. Why do schools run for (on average) less than seven hours per day? Why does school generally end before 3 p.m.? Aside from educators themselves, almost no American adults work that sort of schedule.

That misalignment has consequences. School schedules put pressure on families struggling to construct a sane, healthy life for their children. In an era when slow wage growth means that only a dwindling number of parents can afford to stay home to care for their kids full time, many parents pay extra for before- and/or after-care so they can juggle school and work schedules.