Four Day School Week Essay Example

Many districts who have alternated to a four day week may have not realized the disadvantages of having a shorter week. A four day week school schedule is not anymore helpful for teachers, students, or the district due to the long days, how tired kids might be, and the amount of money being spent then it would be on a five day week. It actually can be less adequate. Some people may disagree with this and say that children are more likely to succeed on a four day week schedule or they may even say that a four day week saves the district money on bills. A four day week in schools may throw kids off with the change of having several days off then going to school for a long day, the longer days make it more likely for kids to forget the material they have already been taught and the bills for this schedule will stay the same as on a five day week schedule or may even be higher.

Kids might be tired during the school day because of the extra long days to make up for that  day that is being taken from the week and the longer school days aren't benefiting the academic scores of schoolwork or tests, students often might even forget what they learned. According to the video, Academic scores didn't really make a substantial change when changing to the four day week. Longer days pushed into a shorter school week isn't actually too beneficial because most children don't have a long enough attention span for that  and they have “academic loss’’ over the weekend which is forgetting what they have learned during the weeks prior then teachers are obligated to reteach the material(source 4).This evidence supports the claim of a four day week not being suitable because as stated above there are not any advantages at all, only disadvantages. A four day week again isn't benefiting kids whatsoever. Grades are not being improved or increasing, attention spans aren't as long as the school day so children aren't focusing, and when kids go on their three day weekend they are forgetting the material they have already learned. When they forget this and the teachers have to reteach it, it then makes it so that the kids aren't even getting the knowledge they were supposed to get in those weeks worth of reteaching. This clearly makes it so kids are going to be behind all the time in the standards of what they are required to have knowledge of. In the video “why school should only be 4 days a week,” the reporter says that experts worry about how tired kids are on the regular school days because of how long they are ,so in France they have added the fifth day back and shortened the days all back to normal(source 4).When there is a four day school week kids get tired due to the extra long eight hour days which results in not being benefited by whatever lesson the teacher is teaching. When they are tired they will doze off and not pay attention to the instructor nor the instruction given. When not paying attention they will not know what to do and it puts the child at a disadvantage. Without the four day week the child would never have to be put at this disadvantage. France going to the extent to change back to the five day week just shows how much a four day week is not helpful. With all of these drawbacks of a four day week stated above, it is obvious that a four day week is not at all needed or a good idea. 

Many people may disagree with the idea that a four day week is not the greatest idea and might say shorter weeks save money and give more opportunity to participate in other activities such as sports. The article states, “The reason is to bring down costs and enrich the learning environment with extracurricular development for pupils” (source 1). What is being said here is that with a four day week the school bills will be lower and there will be more opportunity for sports and different activities other than just school. It is understanding how others have this theory, however longer days add up to the same amount of hours or even more of a regular five day week so it won't bring down the costs of bills since the electricity and all else will still be being used for the same amount of time as in a five day week. Also, in five day school week, the days are shorter so it gives time for extracurricular activities after the school day and gives time for homework. The article says, “ Education experts theorize that the shorter weeks have no positive financial effect on the districts that implement them” (source 1). This evidence supports the refutation because it is directly shooting down the theory and proving it wrong by saying that shorter weeks do not save money or help out financially. It is pure common sense that when you lengthen each day and take a day away, you are still in school for the same amount of time as you would in a five day week. All in all, the utilities have equivalent usages and no money is going to be saved by transforming to a four day week.