Extended School Day Silliness

A Memphis City Council committee is recommending that school hours be extended to match work hours, so children don't have any free time before their parents get off from work, on the theory that children with nothing to do are more likely to get into trouble. Superficially, the idea might sound all right, until one realizes the faulty theory of education that lies behind it. First of all, as a former educator, I know that the purpose of schools are to educate young people, not to watch them, babysit them or keep them out of trouble. Schools are not designed to be in loco parentis. I have watched through the years as the school year (and hours) have been slowly lengthened over and over, yet test scores continue to fall and the dropout rate continues to increase. Longer school days (or year-round scheduling) means nothing when very little learning is taking place, or when many of the teachers are either going through the motions or teaching only to the state TCAP exam that will be given at the end of the year. Longer school days will wreak havoc with school athletics and music programs. Young people will be scheduled to classes rather than being able to practice football, basketball, band, cheerleading or majorettes. The longer days will also have school buses on the streets delivering kids to their homes during rush hour, increasing the risk of accidents and traffic jams. Finally, the longer day would prevent young people from getting an after-school job, which has been a rite of passage for American teens from time immemorial. Proponents of the longer day will point out that the young people creating all the turmoil are not looking for a job or participating in extra-curricular activities, and I would tend to agree. But it is a long-standing principle of justice in this country that we don't punish the innocent and the guilty together. Young people who are not causing a problem would have their school day lengthened just like the troublemakers. Let me suggest instead that we look at setting up voluntary after-school programs involving athletics, art, music, dance, drama, photography and creative writing. In Cincinnati, activists have set up an after-school program called Elementz that provides instruction in hip-hop production, performance, dance and graffiti art. Programs that are based at the schools, parks, libraries or community centers could hold a lot of kids interest giving them something to do in the afternoons. But we don't need to hold them in schools, depriving them of recreation or money-making employment.