South Boston Online hates to be boring, but let’s do some arithmetic.  Students in Boston now go to school for approximately six hours a day – generally between the hours of 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.  The school year is 180 days long.  Therefore, the total hours in the school year equals 1,080.

     Compare this to a working year, which averages 1,880 hours.  A school year amounts to just over one-half, and just under two-thirds, of a work year.  The tradition of short school years dates all the way back to the 1800s, when America was a labor-intensive farming nation.  The young people were needed at home to help out.  That’s no longer true, of course - the school year can be expanded, especially for students in middle and high schools.

     We have tangible local models, which show that this will work. 

     The Codman Academy in Dorchester starts at 9 a.m. and ends classes at 5 p.m.  In addition to allowing more time to learn, Codman’s hours eliminate the need for teenagers to get up at ridiculously early times.  This type of change could be easily made – it’s a no-brainer.

     Here in South Boston, the Paraclete Center supplements the school day for around 100 students from middle and high schools.  Obviously, this is done after (and in addition to) their regular school hours, and they love it.  They receive homework assistance, learn practical topics like cooking, and experiment with robotics and bio-medicine.

     Artists for Humanity, which recently moved to their EpiCenter on A and Second Streets, has a “clientele” of 100 teen artists during the school year and upwards of 400 during the summer.  They willingly work as interns there, on top of their normal schoolwork.  This demonstrates the appetite students have for more work, more learning, and more achievement.  Susan Rogerson, the Director of Artists for Humanity, said in a quote to the Globe, “I believe that we have to have the highest expectations for young people.”

     Consider some of the benefits of a longer school hours.  There would be time to introduce subjects that are unknown in public schools at this time – nursing, engineering, and public service, for example.  These are critical professions now, and will become more critical in the very near future.

     To those who object that school would become a form of “job training”, well, wake up!  It already is.  Without taking a thing away from subjects like music, reading, and the fine arts, just try to get a job in a bank if you can’t work with a computer, or find employment as a salesperson if you can’t speak well and assemble accurate price quotes (in writing).  Nowadays, anyone who objects to combining job skills with cultural subject matter in public schools is guilty of intellectual snobbery.

     Massachusetts persistently ranks near the bottom in being “business-friendly”.  So, why do businesses come to Boston?  One key reason is the availability of highly trained personnel.  Our financial companies, medical complexes, and high-tech startups depend upon brainpower.  Period.

     And the cost/budget factors?  If our existing school facilities were used one-third more, there would be enormous long-term savings.  The capital cost of new schools - $30 million each - could instead be put into upgrading our present school buildings and equipment.  It would be a win-win situation for everyone.  Especially the students.

     You will hear many objections, which might range from students already being too busy to a lack of air conditioning during the summer months.  All of these can be fixed.  In fact, the objections are really symptoms of the “system” being unwilling to change.

     America used to be #1 in the world at all levels of educational achievement.  We’re now between #7 and #10, depending on which survey you read.  It’s time to leave the 1800s behind, extend the school days and years, and get into the 21st Century.  After all, we have been in it for five years already.