"Is Your School Day Too Short?The length of a typical school day is a concern for many institutions and stakeholders.Throughout the world, schools either have short days, from 9am to 3pm or long days thatusually start at 7.30am and end at 4pm. Some educationists have argued that the day is notshort at all. In fact, it’s long as students have to start travelling to their respective school asearly as seven o’clock. Many students commute in public buses or school buses; trains andcars. They travel early to avoid the early morning rush but eventually get caught up in thetraffic. Nine o’clock is the proper time for students to get to school. And the same is forteachers. They also set off early to make it in time to their schools. Most parents areunhappy with the fact that students get let off school as early as 2.30pm or 3pm. They worryabout what their children are up to. Some parents work till five or six in the evening, andthey don’t like the idea of leaving the children without adult supervision. Parents want theirjobs to be synchronized with their children’s school timings.When it comes to students, theydon’t like the idea of long days. This is because they are already burdened with loads ofhomework and assignments. They need time to get it done. Then there are extra-curricularactivities to participate in such as sports, debates and drama clubs. The practices andrehearsals are mainly held after school hours. Some students opt for part-time jobs to helpout their families. They can easily engage in this if the school days are short. Manyeducationists prefer long days because then teachers wouldn’t have to rush through thesyllabus or curriculum for the exams. Educationists also argue that there’s less instructionaltime in short days so students don’t really get much to learn. In the US, educationists saythat the school year is very short compared to their neighbouring nations. In Brazil, a typicalschool day starts at 7am and ends at noon; in Australia, its 9am to 3.30pm; in China, anaverage school day is 7.30am to 5pm; in France, its 8am to 4pm; and in Russia, its 8.30am to 3pm. Basically, the timings depend on the school year for example, in South Korea, thetypical school year starts in March and ends in February; and in Australia its late January tomid-December. It differs from region to region, hemisphere to hemisphere; such as, whenits summer in the Northern Hemisphere, its winter in the Southern Hemisphere and vice- versa, thus the difference in school years and timings.Long Hours – Good or BadIn long school hours, students get to learn a lot. The periods are longer and students gettime to engage in extra-curricular activities and sports apart from academics. The long hoursprovide a space for diverse learning. Teachers don’t need to rush through the syllabus orcurriculum. They can give the needed attention to the students. Teachers can work on thestudents’ weaknesses and strengths. And at the end of the year, the students can get goodgrades and achievements. Some teachers, who are for short hours, say that long hours makethe students captive in the classroom. Students easily get bored. They lose interest andconcentration. No matter, how interesting the teacher makes the topic or session to be,students get bored. And long hours don’t help much in retaining knowledge. It’s up to thestudents themselves as to how much information they retain or remember. Students aredifferent individuals and they have different capabilities, skills and intelligence quotient.Some students are good at academics and some are good in sports. They have differentinterests. Teachers should try to reach out to all of them. With long school hours, studentsdon’t get time to do their own thing. They don’t get to socialize with their friends and familyas they have homework and assignments to do. While it may be good for parents who worktill late in office, it’s not good for the family as a whole. It makes the relationship unhealthy.And by the time, students go home from school, they are exhausted and hungry. They get easily irritated and frustrated. Long hours means more school work and pressure to dobetter. Students say that everything should be balanced out. School work, leisure activities and freetime; students need free time to wind down and do what they like. They should also begiven the time and space to relax.Reference1. Morgan, M. (2014, October 22). Is the school day too short? Retrieved August 19,2016, from http://evansreview.com/current-affairs/is-the-school-day-too- short/95182. Media, D. (2016). Shortening the school day. Retrieved August 19, 2016, fromhttp://education.seattlepi.com/shortening-school-day-2017.html3. AlexanderDumas, Butte, C., & More, C. The benefits of shorter school days. RetrievedAugust 19, 2016, fromhttp://www.teenink.com/opinion/school_college/article/836403/The-Benefits-of- Shorter-School-Days/4. James, M. (2013, April 21). Shorter school days only thwart the young. TheTelegraph. Retrieved fromhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/10009156/Shorter-school-days-only-thwart- the-young.html "