The Blame Game

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discussed how there are many school districts that are switching to a 4-day-week schedule in order to combat some of the budget constraints. Despite research that longer school days, more school days, and fewer breaks result in greater student learning gains, many districts are desperately trying to find solutions to stay afloat in the midst of the education crisis that is hitting our country (and when I say 'our' country, I mean the US even though I live in Germany).

The article references some scary statistics like American youngsters spend 7.5 hours per day 'using entertainment media' which totals 53 hours a week. They indicate that this calculates to be more time than students actually spend in school. Although I agree that activities such as video games and television should be limited, I question where this data comes from. My old school ended at 2:30 which meant most children did not even arrive home until 3:00. In order to get in that much 'entertainment media' time, students would have to engage in those types of activities from the moment they walked through the door until the moment they went to bed (unless they are waking up early to get in some gaming time before school or staying up past a reasonable time for young students to hit the sack). The sad thing is, this probably is occurring for some children, but I don't think that it is happening at such an epidemic level that it seriously contributes to the achievement gap. Maybe I am wrong, I am still mulling it over.

Teachers have been criticized a lot recently in the media and have been accused of joining the profession to have long summer vacations and to have a workday that ends at 3 or 4 o'clock. It's not as though I am begging to stay longer and work harder at the end of a full day, yet it's not as though it is directly under our control to dictate the school hours where we teach. I agree that the school day is too short. We struggle to get all of our lessons accomplished. We struggle with the fact that we have to focus so intensely on math and reading at the expense of other disciplines like science and social studies and enrichment like art. We frequently lament that we just need more TIME.The article seems to lack a clear understanding of how teachers are being forced to use our classroom time. It seems as though the author is under the impression that we spend a lot of time doing things that we have actually had to cut/remove from our classroom routines.

"Our deeper problem is the enormous amount of time that typical American schools spend on gym, recess, lunch, assembly, changing classes, homeroom, lining up to go to the art room, looking at movies, writing down homework assignments, quieting the classroom, celebrating this or that holiday, and other pursuits. It's not all wasted time but neither are these minutes spent in ways that boost test scores, enhance college-readiness or deepen pupils' understanding of literature, geography or algebra."

This bugs me! This snippet kind of makes me want to rip my hair out! My first graders were allotted about 20 minutes to eat lunch which included the time it was required to stand in the long line. Lots of students purchase lunch because lots of low income families were eligible for free and reduced meals at school which means many students had less than 15 minutes to eat their lunch. That is not healthy. That is stressful. Can you learn if you are hungry or stressed? Maslow says NO when he talks about the hierarchy of needs! Have you ever eaten a meal with a 6 year old? It takes them some time to open packages, stick straws in juice boxes, and chew. The children were constantly shushed at lunch because there was such a rush to eat and talking was barely allowed! When was the last time a group of adults sat around a large table and ate in silence? We are asking forcing students to do things we would never do ourselves. We have been made to cut down the allotted time to do things that kids need to do in order to rejuvenate themselves for further learning!

After a rushed lunch, students have about 20 minutes to play, during which they need to also take a break to use the bathroom because we don't want them using up precious class time on the toilet. The article says that we spend too much time celebrating holidays which is a complete farce because those celebrations have been removed from many schools to make more room for math and reading. We barely delved into holidays like Martin Luther King Jr Day, Presidents' Day, Groundhog's Day, and Columbus Day because we simply don't have the time. On the contrary to what the article states, we are not wasting time on these lessons, we are simply leaving them out, or spending such a short amount of time on them that we end up perpetuating stereotypical notions because we can't afford to delve deeply into the history and social justice issues that are part of these holidays.

Also, the idea that too much time is used up writing down homework assignments and walking in the hallway seems to come from someone who doesn't know what it's like to teach young children! Everything takes time. Yes, teachers with great classroom management skills can reduce the amount of time spent on these kinds of tasks, but they still take time. The author acknowledges that this is not all wasted time but proclaims that all of these minutes are not helping us boost test scores and prepare students for college. And that my friends, is what teaching has come to. Preparing students for tests and college, whether they are 15 or 5! Against our will We are teaching to the test and narrowing the curriculum in order to spend the maximum amount of time possible focusing on 'the core content areas' yet we are then being criticized for the results of a way of teaching we did not sign up for!

I agree that education could benefit from a makeover. I acknowledge that there is an achievement gap. I know that our mutual goal is to have an educational system that works for kids, but I think we really need to re-evaluate the direction in which education is going and stop attacking teachers for doing things that essentially we are made to do. If teachers could simply close the door and teach, really teach, using their instincts, their 'with-it-ness,' innate skills, and intelligence perhaps our children would make greater gains. Most of us enter the profession because we love children, we have a passion for education and teaching, and we want to make a difference. We are creative, inspired, engaging, imaginative, and talented, but we are not able to show it.

Maybe we do need to make our school days longer. Maybe we could get more accomplished and broaden our curriculum if we had more minutes every day. There are a lot of  factors that could change the outcomes of student performance, but  I  am tired of the blame game. Teachers keep getting blamed and criticized and are being driven from the profession both because of budget cuts and dissatisfaction with what has become of our profession. I do not think moving towards a 4 day week is a great thing for students, yet I think decisions are being made out of desperation at this point in an effort to save money and that makes me sad.

I think this post has gone is a lot of different directions but I guess I just want to wrap it up by saying, keep up the good work teachers! Even if it doesn't seem like it, you are impacting lives and making a difference. Chin up!

What do you think about schools that change to a 4 day week?

Do you feel like too much time is wasted on non-important activities during the school day?

Any other thoughts?