In Governor Chris Christie’s recent State
of the State address on Tuesday, January 14th, the Governor proposed
a longer school day as well as a longer school year. The governor’s main goal is to increase New Jersey students’
competitiveness. As a future teacher, I am not quite sure that I agree with this idea. I can understand
wanting to use the additional time to teach students but I fear that this extra
classroom time would be focused on teaching the material for the standardized
tests. As a child, I attended a private Catholic school and I was always
jealous of my friends who went to the public schools who had a shorter school
day. The article attached provides an interesting look at both sides of the
argument as to whether or not New Jersey should have an
extended school day and school year.
As
a future teacher how do you feel about the idea of a longer school day? How do
you feel about a longer school year? Do you think that New Jersey public schools
should begin to follow the model of charter schools that have a longer school
day (by about 50 minutes) and have a longer school year? The state requires a
school year of at least 180 days.
Generally speaking, charter schools have a much longer school year? If you believe that we should
have a longer school day and a longer school year then what area of the
curriculum do you believe should be stressed in those extra hours?
