PLANK FOUR:
MORE TIME
SPENT EDUCATING

"Make use of time, let not advantage slip."

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

There are many reasons why kids are not keeping pace as they progress through school. Those reasons include, but are in no way limited to, the student-to-teacher ratio, quality of instruction, quantity of instruction, pace of instruction, and duration of instruction.

Since current outcomes are falling far short of expectations, we should at least try to maximize the education returns of the human resources and the physical plant we are investing in, since these are somewhat fixed costs. Teachers are paid annually, yet they work far less than the 240 days of traditional salaried workers. Typically, public school teachers work about 180 days a year, minus employee discretionary days. What is magic about 180 days? Why not provide students

with 240 instructional days, or some number in between?

In the past, when this country had an agriculturally-based economy, having as many able bodies available to tend to and harvest the crops dictated the school calendar. But children are no longer tied to the fields, and the 180-day school calendar is one of the restrictive outputs of the collective bargaining agreement.

If kids aren't learning given current instructional hours, then perhaps the number of hours they spend in the classroom each day should be lengthened. Another option would be to increase the number of classroom days in the school year. Children in Japan spend 35 percent more days in school than their American peers. Additionally, we should consider going to a year-round teaching calendar that evens out the current lumpiness of the teaching schedule. This raises the question, "Should teachers be paid more?" If student education outcomes improve