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A longer school day and school on Saturday??? Anyone hear about this?
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 309964" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>This sounds to me like an exercise in kite-flying.</p><p></p><p>I have often wondered why in the US you have such long summer breaks. The "kids needed home to help with the harvest" thing makes sense, but I do agree, it's time to change if that was the only reason.</p><p></p><p>Kathy makes good points - especially in these economic times, why would there be a proposal that would cost so much more? What seems to me to be a target, is to bring the US more in line with the rest of the world. Not only in terms of academic output, but in terms of how the school year is spread out.</p><p></p><p>Kids don't learn well if they're at school for too long without a brak. They need SOME break. Similarly, if the break is too long then a lot of stuff needs to be revised.</p><p></p><p>I would like to compare how it's done here in Australia, to how you do it in the US. Maybe it could set some minds at ease?</p><p></p><p>Our school year runs from January to December. Of course, our summer holidays coincide nicely with this. I do agree, having a long vacation over Christmas is fairly pointless if in your neck of the woods, it's cold, dark and there's little to do outdoors at this time. Much more sensible to put such time to good use academically!</p><p></p><p>Similarly, you wouldn't want long school sessions through the summer when kids are longing to be outdoors going for a swim. You need a balance.</p><p></p><p>I just got my 2010 diary in the mail yesterday. It has our NSW, Australia school terms on it.</p><p></p><p>We have four school terms through the year which split the year into two semesters (in line with univerisities).</p><p>Our school year begins with Term 1 on 27 January (Wednesday). Tuesday 26 January is Australia Day (sort of like your July 4). 27 Jan will be a teachers only day, I suspect some kids won't be back at school until the Friday. A gentle introduction to the school year.</p><p>Term 1 finishes on 1 April. This fluctuates because of Easter (a moveable feast in Christian calendars). As a result, our first two terms vary in length each year. 2 April is Good Friday in 2010 (non-orthodox). In Australia Good Friday and the following Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. So school always used to lose those days anyway, when we had the old three term system. So now they shove them into the school hoidays and it smooths out the teaching year.</p><p>[An aside - we had friends from the US stay with us over Easter in 2008, they tried to wander around Sydney city on Good Friday and were amazed - we shut up businesses all over, on Good Friday. Australia IS a Christian country, it is just fairly quiet about it and gets on with the job. Businesses don't all close, it's very much a matter of choice. Easter is more important spiritually here than Christmas, although Christmas is HUGE commercially].</p><p></p><p>Term 2 begins on 19 April and goes to 2 July. That gives a three week break (including Easter) between Terms 1 and 2.</p><p></p><p>Term 3 begins 19 July and goes to 24 September. Again, a three week break between Terms 2 and 3.</p><p></p><p>Term 4 begins 11 October and goes to 17 December. So that's only a little over 2 weeks (two weeks plus the weekend in between).</p><p></p><p>Along the year we have various public holidays, although the last two terms are low in public holidays. However, Term 4 is also when we have our major exams - the School Certificate and the Higher School Certificate. The HSC pretty much begins in early Term 4. difficult child 3 is doing the SC this year, he will probably begin his exams halfway through Term 4, once the HSC is finished with, in the older groups.</p><p></p><p>So we finish the school year right before Christmas. 17 December is a fairly early finish this year, some years school doesn't finish until 21 December.</p><p></p><p>So between Terms 1 & 2, and between Terms 2 & 3, the kids get a three week break. Between Terms 3 & 4 it's 2 weeks. Over summer, the kids will get 5 to 6 weeks holiday (depending on when the Christmas break begins).</p><p></p><p>So we probably have similar school term lengths to you, but our holidays break up the school year a bit more so the kids can stay fresher for longer.</p><p></p><p>Our school day - Primary school (from K to Grade 6) begins at 9 am and goes to 3 pm. Some school vary this by half an hour this way or that but it's still the same length.</p><p></p><p>High school hours begin about 8.45 am and go to 3.20 or 3.30. The length of the breaks during the day vary this a bit from school to school. Some schools allow an hour for lunch, some pull it back to 45 minutes.</p><p></p><p>When I was a kid, we had 8 x 40 minute lessons over the high school day. There were two breaks - recess in the morning, then lunch. We had sport (compulsory) one afternoon a week as well as a phys ed class or two through the week for the younger grades. In senior high school when studying for advanced lessons we often ahd to give up part of our sport time plus come in early, for extra lessons.</p><p></p><p>NEVER would any politician get students or schools to schedule classes for a Saturday morning. But some private schools may do it.</p><p></p><p>Other problems I can see with Saturdya morning classes - although both the US and Australia are primarily Christian countries, multiculturalism is bringing in a wider range of people from other cultural, social and religious groups, a number of whom have Holy Days on Saturday.</p><p></p><p>We NEED our weekends. Kids who choose to get part-time work, need their weekends to earn money. They need their down-time. So do teachers. Teachers do a lot more than just face-to-face teaching time. If we increase face-to-face teaching, when will they prepare lessons? Mark papers? Write Learning Plans? Meet with parents?</p><p></p><p>I do think the US would benefit form a more balanced school year, more resemblnig ours. Perhaps a British or European model would work better? Northern Hemisphere is more likely to be in keeping with an efficient system with a December winter.</p><p></p><p>In NSW we changed our school term system about 10 years ago or more, to bring it more into line with our univeristy timetables. These uni timetables have also been developed with the rest of the world in mind. We want to encourge Northern Hemishpere academics to come here for conferences etc as well as come here to work and study. We need to be comparable and compatible.</p><p></p><p>Similarly, the US would benefit if its schooling system was in line with US univeristies and all of it was also in line with British and European standards.</p><p></p><p>I say this, not currently knowing what those standards are. All I know is, in this rapidly shrinking world we really need cross-compatibility.</p><p></p><p>An Aussie-born scientist just won a Nobel Prize for Medicien. She has been living and working in the US for the last 30 years, but we claim her as an Aussie, as I am sure you are claiming this as a US achievement. The thing is - it is possible for us to do both, simply because we DO have educational systems in the world that allow people to transfer from one area to anoter.</p><p></p><p>The easier we make it, the better for us all.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 309964, member: 1991"] This sounds to me like an exercise in kite-flying. I have often wondered why in the US you have such long summer breaks. The "kids needed home to help with the harvest" thing makes sense, but I do agree, it's time to change if that was the only reason. Kathy makes good points - especially in these economic times, why would there be a proposal that would cost so much more? What seems to me to be a target, is to bring the US more in line with the rest of the world. Not only in terms of academic output, but in terms of how the school year is spread out. Kids don't learn well if they're at school for too long without a brak. They need SOME break. Similarly, if the break is too long then a lot of stuff needs to be revised. I would like to compare how it's done here in Australia, to how you do it in the US. Maybe it could set some minds at ease? Our school year runs from January to December. Of course, our summer holidays coincide nicely with this. I do agree, having a long vacation over Christmas is fairly pointless if in your neck of the woods, it's cold, dark and there's little to do outdoors at this time. Much more sensible to put such time to good use academically! Similarly, you wouldn't want long school sessions through the summer when kids are longing to be outdoors going for a swim. You need a balance. I just got my 2010 diary in the mail yesterday. It has our NSW, Australia school terms on it. We have four school terms through the year which split the year into two semesters (in line with univerisities). Our school year begins with Term 1 on 27 January (Wednesday). Tuesday 26 January is Australia Day (sort of like your July 4). 27 Jan will be a teachers only day, I suspect some kids won't be back at school until the Friday. A gentle introduction to the school year. Term 1 finishes on 1 April. This fluctuates because of Easter (a moveable feast in Christian calendars). As a result, our first two terms vary in length each year. 2 April is Good Friday in 2010 (non-orthodox). In Australia Good Friday and the following Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. So school always used to lose those days anyway, when we had the old three term system. So now they shove them into the school hoidays and it smooths out the teaching year. [An aside - we had friends from the US stay with us over Easter in 2008, they tried to wander around Sydney city on Good Friday and were amazed - we shut up businesses all over, on Good Friday. Australia IS a Christian country, it is just fairly quiet about it and gets on with the job. Businesses don't all close, it's very much a matter of choice. Easter is more important spiritually here than Christmas, although Christmas is HUGE commercially]. Term 2 begins on 19 April and goes to 2 July. That gives a three week break (including Easter) between Terms 1 and 2. Term 3 begins 19 July and goes to 24 September. Again, a three week break between Terms 2 and 3. Term 4 begins 11 October and goes to 17 December. So that's only a little over 2 weeks (two weeks plus the weekend in between). Along the year we have various public holidays, although the last two terms are low in public holidays. However, Term 4 is also when we have our major exams - the School Certificate and the Higher School Certificate. The HSC pretty much begins in early Term 4. difficult child 3 is doing the SC this year, he will probably begin his exams halfway through Term 4, once the HSC is finished with, in the older groups. So we finish the school year right before Christmas. 17 December is a fairly early finish this year, some years school doesn't finish until 21 December. So between Terms 1 & 2, and between Terms 2 & 3, the kids get a three week break. Between Terms 3 & 4 it's 2 weeks. Over summer, the kids will get 5 to 6 weeks holiday (depending on when the Christmas break begins). So we probably have similar school term lengths to you, but our holidays break up the school year a bit more so the kids can stay fresher for longer. Our school day - Primary school (from K to Grade 6) begins at 9 am and goes to 3 pm. Some school vary this by half an hour this way or that but it's still the same length. High school hours begin about 8.45 am and go to 3.20 or 3.30. The length of the breaks during the day vary this a bit from school to school. Some schools allow an hour for lunch, some pull it back to 45 minutes. When I was a kid, we had 8 x 40 minute lessons over the high school day. There were two breaks - recess in the morning, then lunch. We had sport (compulsory) one afternoon a week as well as a phys ed class or two through the week for the younger grades. In senior high school when studying for advanced lessons we often ahd to give up part of our sport time plus come in early, for extra lessons. NEVER would any politician get students or schools to schedule classes for a Saturday morning. But some private schools may do it. Other problems I can see with Saturdya morning classes - although both the US and Australia are primarily Christian countries, multiculturalism is bringing in a wider range of people from other cultural, social and religious groups, a number of whom have Holy Days on Saturday. We NEED our weekends. Kids who choose to get part-time work, need their weekends to earn money. They need their down-time. So do teachers. Teachers do a lot more than just face-to-face teaching time. If we increase face-to-face teaching, when will they prepare lessons? Mark papers? Write Learning Plans? Meet with parents? I do think the US would benefit form a more balanced school year, more resemblnig ours. Perhaps a British or European model would work better? Northern Hemisphere is more likely to be in keeping with an efficient system with a December winter. In NSW we changed our school term system about 10 years ago or more, to bring it more into line with our univeristy timetables. These uni timetables have also been developed with the rest of the world in mind. We want to encourge Northern Hemishpere academics to come here for conferences etc as well as come here to work and study. We need to be comparable and compatible. Similarly, the US would benefit if its schooling system was in line with US univeristies and all of it was also in line with British and European standards. I say this, not currently knowing what those standards are. All I know is, in this rapidly shrinking world we really need cross-compatibility. An Aussie-born scientist just won a Nobel Prize for Medicien. She has been living and working in the US for the last 30 years, but we claim her as an Aussie, as I am sure you are claiming this as a US achievement. The thing is - it is possible for us to do both, simply because we DO have educational systems in the world that allow people to transfer from one area to anoter. The easier we make it, the better for us all. Marg [/QUOTE]
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A longer school day and school on Saturday??? Anyone hear about this?
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