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Why Does the School Day End 2 Hours Before the Workday?
- Eridrus 8y agoOn one hand, I fully support efforts to improve access to childcare, but on the other hand, I was left unsupervised from about the age of 7-8 years old and it was fine. I was lucky enough to live walking distance from the primary schools I went to, but besides transport I'm not really sure why they need to be supervised at all times.
- milesvp 8y agoI'm fully convinced that they shouldn't be supervised at all times. I think being alone in a house without adults is a very important experience that shapes children, and without it we end up neutering them in ways that are hard to quantify. Even better if we allow them to roam neighborhoods unsupervised with other children, so they can learn to cooperate and deal with interpersonal conflict without an adult always acting as an authority.
- photojosh 8y agoWe're thinking about this issue right this very moment. Kids are 8 and 10, and in afternoon out-of-school care for 1.5-2 hours two days a week. Thinking for next year we will just let them take themselves home.
- topkai22 8y agoThey touch on it in the article, but in my area most elementary schools have in school after school programs, typically running about $60/week for after school care. That seems like the easiest way to go, you get rid of transport costs, utilize under utilized space, and provide additional income to school staff if they want it. The biggest issues seem to be that because they are aligned with the school year they don’t necessarily have summer or holiday coverage.
- lihaciudaniel 8y agoAs a kid I never had my parents pay after-school. I just went to the library that is 2 minutes walk from my school and stayed there until 5pm when it closed (also the library was small and great for community of our city).
- yasp 8y agoWhy are schools implicit childcare centers?
- aargh_aargh 8y agoWhy is school attendance compulsory?
- tomatotomato37 8y agoIt isn't. Education is, it just so happens most parents send their kids off to a seperate institution over home schooling.
- cimmanom 8y agoBecause 50 years ago it was totally normal for 8 year olds to be on their own for a few hours after the school bus dropped them off and for 5 year olds to be supervise only by their slightly older siblings. Because 100 years ago it was normal for those 5 year olds to walk home from school on their own and play in the streets until their parents returned. Because we weren’t always as crazy and paranoid about unsupervised children as we are now.
- jrnichols 8y agoThe article notes that it's usually women that drop out of the workforce to stay home with the kids, but it doesn't mention that it's usually women who are the ones being paranoid about unsupervised children. 30 years ago, I think it was the total opposite. My mother (and many others) were fine with the kids coming home by themselves and being latchkey kids. what changed? "Adam" in 1983. I noticed a significant shift in parental behavior after that movie came out. My mother declared that I was no longer allowed to walk home alone after school. Talking with other friends later on in life, they too noted that things changed in the early 80's. One cited the rise of AIDS as a reason his mother wouldn't let him walk home. Another cited the McMartin preschool trial. The fear of random people snatching up and molesting/murdering kids became endemic. Fear had taken over.
- cafard 8y agoAs I always say when this stuff comes up: 50 years ago, there were more mothers at home during the day, resulting in a sort of intermittent yet steady surveillance.