Four Days and an Extra Hour
With all the budget cuts going on in schools, a four-day school week might come true!

I think that’s a good thing for kids, because adults don’t realize that kids have other things going on in their life besides school—for example, family issues are always a big problem. There are youth that have kids to take care of and this extra day might be a way to have them spend less money on childcare. On the other hand, there might be some problems for the so-called problem kids. For kids that get into trouble, they might get into more trouble cause they’ll have more time to cause chaos.

In terms of money, the four day week supposedly helps “education officials … save busloads of money on transportation.” I think with the money they will save from transportation costs, they can start after-school programs to help the student that want and need help.

Personally, I think the four-day week will do everybody some good because with that day off, you could catch up on some sleep, or other business that you have to attend to. To be honest, school is stressful—dealing with grades, work, and other classmates can be a lot, and whatever you got to do to get on top of your schedule is good. So, if they have to add a hour to each class that could help everybody, because teachers are still getting their full paycheck and it’s keeping the kids off the streets for a extra hour. That extra hour could save someone’s life.
—David Cunningham

We Should Try the Four-Day School Week
The economic crisis is affecting everyone, so much so that the Government and school officials are considering shortening the school week. With a four day school week students could have extra time to rest, complete projects and study independently. The Government is also for it because less money would be spent for school transportation and students would possibly attend more because of the shorter week. The catch to this would be that the school days would be an hour longer than usual.

In Tampa, Florida they have already tried the schedule changes and have found it to be successful in many ways … like less disciplinary referrals, more students attending and more class participation. There are already about 17 states that have four-day school weeks, so it wouldn’t be a heavy adjustment.

I think that this is a good proposal and that maybe we should at least try it in the Bay Area for a few months. If it seems successful than we could decide from there what is best for students. I think that more hours and less school days sounds more efficient because I rarely came to school, but with only four days to worry about—I’d be more tempted to attend more often. I wish I had that in my school when I was in high school. – Sean Shavers

This blog was written during a New America Media Education Reporting Fellowship for Youth, which was funded through The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.