Should the school year be longer?


President Obama is calling for a major overhaul of the U.S. education system, advocating the firing of teachers who aren’t meeting expectations and a longer school year that more closely approximates the length of the academic year in other countries. However, many school districts say they don’t have the resources to add more days to the school calendar. You can read more about the proposal here.

What do you think? Should the U.S. school year be extended?

Categories: General
Michael Huber

23 Responses

  1. doris says:

    I don’t believe that extending the school year is the fix that is needed to move American students forward. The various factors that have been introduced in the Educational process has resulted in a diluted process. What America needes to get back is the concept that
    schools are for education purposes. Schools are now expected to be a Social agency that can educate and handle children’s personal social issues in 5 hours on the average. What we need to ask ourselves is,How do countries with less achieve better in the educational arena.Countries like Africa, Korea, China and India value the learning process. Educational pursuits are their first priority and these people sacrifice time and money. Our children are spoiled under achievers who are being told they pass, even though they have exerted no effort. Too much video, television and useless time pursuits have made our children mediocre people, who don’t think and expect everything to be easy.Parents need to be more accountable as well. If you didn’t want to assist your children in being the best, why have them and expect nothing from them. Wrong message! What we need to remind out children is that to those whom much is given, much is required.

  2. Parent says:

    The union dominated NYS school system can never be fixed. Protecting the status-quo is their only concern. There are way to many over paid school administrators that will never address their own issues, nevermind getting tough with poor performing teachers. Have you ever spoken to a principle of school? they only care about themselves and are not willing to take on the tough challenges. Try to find a school administrator during the summer when they are suppose to be planning for the upcoming school year. Boy, if there was only a place to name names…..

    As for the school year, I would be satisfied if they simply removed all the teacher conferences duing the day, eliminated some of the union generated holidays, actually taught our children right up the last day of school in June instead of showing movies or having parties so they don’t have to teach the last two weeks.

    Forget it New Yorkers, this problem cannot be fixed here, we will not be the leader on “fixing schools”, not until you admit you have a problem, eliminate tenure and weed these people out.

  3. Teacher says:

    I think Obama should focus students behavior in the classroom. This is a major issue in urban classrooms. In those high achieving countries you would not see disruptive and disrespectful behaviors. I think our children need time to enjoy summers that have some structures such as camps. I would vote no to longer school years.

  4. Gen says:

    I personally believe one of the ways children learn best is through play, both on their own and guided. We have taken that away from them. Kindergarten is full of assesments and full of desk learning. Its sad. Parents are either down their childs throat or not at all. We need to find a balance and school year round isnt it. With all the budget cuts happening left and right, who knows what a good teacher is anymore. Its all about senority. And on top of all this, other points aside, when a child is unable to concentrate due to heat in the classrooms and other factors, where will the money come from to keep the learning atmosphere optimum? I work in a school and can tell you that come the end of June, some days are down right unbearable…

  5. garry says:

    WOW!!!! teachers to get paid a years pay for 12 months of work instead of 10 months…NO pay increase with this either they are paid well now…see how it is to work like other people..40 hrs. a week 12 months a year.. CAN YOU HACK IT……

  6. Elaine says:

    I agree with Doris. There’s not enough commitment from parents to education in this country.

  7. PMcMahn says:

    Extending the schoolyear is not going to create jobs. Why should kids persue excellence in education if there is nothing to hope for…no improvement in their social and economic status. Concentrate on JOBS and kids will have the motivation to succeed. Give them something to HOPE for, not more hours or days in school. Btw, most schools don’t get out to the end of June and begin in early September. That is 10 months last I knew. Sure. There are vacations, and perhaps we should play with those times a bit, but leave July and August alone in New York State.

  8. Dee Dee says:

    I agree with a longer school year. Ask any parent, children have too much time off: too many days each MONTH off, extended breaks for December, February and April, then the entire summer. Children need consistency and just when they are getting acclimated, they get time off to either sit at home, at a babysitter’s, or at a Child Care program where they’re getting no educational stimulation. They are unlikely to retain what they’ve learned the year before over the summer break, or even the shorter breaks.

    Furthermore, considering what is expected in a typical day, do the children even get 5 hours of learning in a day at school? I do not think so. Starting their day, they put away their items, and all the necessary morning activities. They start classes, then there is lunch and a recess (absolutely necessary), then children leaving for special services (when NO new material can be addressed when they are not in the class), then prepare to go home, etc. How can we expect greatness on these shortened days, weeks, months, and years???

  9. mub says:

    As a former teacher of 34 years, I agree with some of the items mentioned here, and number one is cutting out in service days. Ask most teachers and they will tell you they rather be in a class room with their students than sitting there listening to the next great hope for reforming education.
    As far as teaching up to the last day, lots of things work against that. In many dstricts red tape requires that all books be returned , packed up by a date usually a week before school closes. I remember when our principal announced that all books should be returned to the book loan on the last day of classes.Exam week was up coming.Hello!!!could the students please have their texts to prep for exams? Moving testing back to late June would help a lot, but the state wants them corrected by the end of the school year.

    On the other hand I fear the call for a longer school year is more a call for free child care.

  10. Concernedtaxpayer says:

    Albany has a dozen new charter school, none of which were fully enrolled when they opened–one had classes of 9 children! Talk about economy of scale–we now have to pay for 12 new principals, APs, school nurses, ground, busses etc. No wonder our tax bills are going up.If charters are to be let the voters decide! The mayor should have thought of that before inviting them here to give him de facto mayoral control. This city will become a middle class ghost town!

  11. Cooldude says:

    Please tell me what Obama and his own network (NBC MSNBC etc…) know about education. This is nothing but pure politics trying to make these clowns look good. Guess what-too late!

  12. EricEssig says:


    You should pay more attention. The charter schools in Albany already have longer school days and school years than the district schools. Also, they are teaching more than 20% of Albany resident students while they only cost about 14% of the districts general fund budget. Sounds like a good deal to me. Especially since overall they are outperforming the district schools academically.

    Finally, although some charter schools are new, others have been around as long as nine years. And the one failing charter in the city has been closed by the State. that is how accountability is supposed to work.

  13. Robert says:

    Albany only pays charter schools per student that attends, so your argument doesn’t really work. They also pay charters substantially less than their own internal costs for educating a student, so they actually make money on each student that attends a charter.

    The extra principals, etc. are at District schools where they have not lowered the number of these folks despite having 2,000 fewer students.

    Also, the mayor has nothing to do with charter schools. I think he’s visited each of them once, but other than that, nada.

  14. Albany Mom says:

    I would like longer school years, but it would be a huge improvement to even keep the same number of days, drastically reduce the length of the summer vacation and scatter those days off throughout the year. (Logistical nightmare for parents, I know, but I’m talking about an ideal world here.) Kids forget so much over 10+ weeks off, and the more a student struggles academically, the greater the loss over the summer.

    I think there is a lot to some of the above comments about our fiddling with latest educational theory in this country. I remember reading that much of our educational theory and reform in this country, not just recently but through the generations, has not really been based on empirical research. I understand that Teach for America is one outfit that has been collecting and testing data, and now that they have been around for a while, we may get some substantial information to work with, if folks are ready to listen.

    @2 – I don’t know where your kids go to school, but I talked to all of my kids’ principals during the summer. Not just the very beginning or end of the summer either, but in the middle. At one of my kid’s schools, the principal himself picks up the phone if you call during the summer. The principals were always at the schools minus the 1-2 weeks vacation that everyone is entitled too. And I get email responses from them late at night too. Guidance is another office that seems to be there all summer. Maybe I don’t always agree with the way the principals run things, but they are definitely available and working much harder than I do – or I should say their job is a lot more stressful than mine! I pretty much just have to deal with people who WANT to talk to me, whereas the opposite is probably true for principals.

  15. kay says:

    the question should be address to the parents of these children and if they are ok with their taxes.

  16. hotpprs says:

    Yes. This is about money. Pushing this extended school year for the reason that it will enable our children to get high paying jobs is a joke. There are already loads of kids out there with very high grades out of college and graduate school that can’t find jobs.
    With increased technology, it will get worse. I hate to say it, but I’m in the IT field and I can see how it’s been going as more and more things get automated. It is happening in every field of work, automate things, and pay lower skilled workers less money.
    This school year extension is really about two things:
    1) Getting free ‘child care” and free /breakfast and lunches year round, instead of only 9 months.
    2) Getting more slots open for teachers. They aren’t going to have the current teachers take on the extra work, they are going to hire more teachers. Increase the union workforce and more dues, more power.
    I live in NY and the school property taxes are already breaking everyone’s backs. For those of you not from this area, most people in the NY tri-state area are approaching the $1000 a month range for local property taxes, most of which are for school taxes. And those with McMansions are paying towards $1,500 a month. Yes, A MONTH !!
    How in the world can we afford to take on more teachers?
    This is all about money, hold on to your wallet tight and vote against any politician who is planning this if you make enough to pay income taxes or have to pay property tax.
    Don’t think your state can’t ever get out of control like California and New York. You have to nip this in the bud now.

  17. hotpprs says:

    Correction, the “yes” was meant to say, “yes, this is about money.”
    It wasn’t a yes to the question above.
    I am not in favor of extending the school year.

  18. Albany Mom says:

    @16 – I understand your concerns about money. In fact, money is the main reason I don’t see an extended school year happening any time soon. However, I don’t think creating jobs for teachers and providing day care are the reasons why policy-makers are promoting this. Many educators, parents and others have noted the problems of students losing academic ground over breaks, and serious academic research has been done on how to combat this problem. There is even a term for it – Summer Learning Loss. Although there is still much disagreement in the research community about how to combat summer learning loss, few who have looked a the issue would deny that it is a real phenomenon. See for an example of one of many academic articles on this topic.

    So would a longer school year solve some of our educational problems? I’m not sure we know that, but I think you do a disservice to our kids and our future by implying that it is union interests and lazy parents that are promoting this solution for their own benefit.

  19. Studentfirst says:

    An extended school year can be a good idea for some students, but definitely not all. We have to figure out who are the students or what demographic of students will benefit from this? Also, a child’s value of education depends strongly on the values taught at home. The classroom teachers can only do so much. How can the message to “honor education” reach all families?

    I would love to hear some feedback on these questions. Thanks!

  20. That Guy says:

    Well i think making the school year longer is a waste of time. Students work all nine months and really should get three months out.Teachers need a break to they just dont want to come on out and say it but its true and plus we get tried of seeing them five days a week. GOING TO SCHOOL IS LIKE A JOB IF YOU LOOK AT IT TRAINING FOR SOMETHING BIGGER SO YOU CAN MAKE IT AND YOU DO GET VACATION ON EVERY JOB YOU HAVE SO WHY DO YALL WANT TO SHORTEN OUR SUMMER VACTION…………..

  21. Cheksey says:

    I believe we should not have to have a long school becuase teenagers dont like going to school as it is and if we extend the year they will drop out or force their parents to let them be home school…

  22. Walter Clark says:

    In the future, all School Districts someday might, or even have to cut down on summer vacations, or even eliminate them altogether, to reduce school violence. More longer kids stay out of school, more violent they will be, esp., at home when children watch something on TV that depicts violence, or play a video game that depicts violence. Eliminating summer vacations, and winter and spring recesses altogether, and getting rid of the playground equipment at Elementary Schools will cut down on all of that, to reduce school violence. Extending the school year will also cut down on school violence. During a school year, if it were to be extended, e.g., from Monday to Friday, for a remedy to reduce school violence, the video arcades, e.g. in a mall, or at a bowling alley, that are popular to children, should be closed during those school days, and video, and computer games, or other paraphernalia related to violence that are sold in stores should be off limits to children and teenagers during that five-day period to protect them from school violence.

  23. tim says:

    the school year should be longer so that the material can stay with the children longer or else we would have people that think Africa is a country (hint hint @1 doris)