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Here's my district's high school schedule for an example, schedules vary slightly from district to district and state to state but this is reasonably representa

Here's my district's high school schedule for an example, schedules vary slightly from district to district and state to state but this is reasonably representative: http://www.rockfordschools.org/high-schools/rockford-high/daily-schedule/ http://www.rockfordschools.org/high-schools/rockford-high/da... The breaks in my district are 6 minutes long, with five 71-minute class periods. You can't socialize much in 6 minutes, you have to get from one class to the next, which might be a 400m walk if you want to stop at your locker - walking through a dense crowd of people, with a 15 lbs backpack. Or 200m if you bring a backpack of 40+ lbs of books and binders for all your morning or afternoon classes, stopping by your locker just at lunch. Lunch is 24 minutes long somewhere before/in the middle of/after 4th period. "Zero hour" at the top of the linked schedule is if you want to take an extra class, eg. to accomodate state requirements like civics and communications while also taking year-long AP classes, performing arts classes, or doubling up on science/math electives beyond the minimum. If you have an average morning bus arrival at 6:50, and add a sport that goes until 5:30PM, and are quick enough to have get your homework done in just an hour each night, it ends up being about the equivalent of a 60-hour work week...pretty rough on a 14-year-old child. But we're a Blue Ribbon Exemplary School! Top 250 in the nation! In spite of the flaws obvious in the schedule above, if my family is going to be in an American school system, and especially if we want them near extended family, friends, and my job, we're not going to do too much better than this: I bought a house in this district so my kid could get the same great education I did.

war1025 7y ago
WTF are kids doing at the school at 6:30 (Zero hour)? That's ridiculous.
- liability 7y ago
  School districts are pressured by parents with jobs to make the school day start early, so that parents and kids can leave the house at the same time in the morning.
  - bonoboTP 7y ago
    Of course, because kids are so dependent on parents. Everything is interrelated. This just wouldn't be a problem in most places in Europe, because kids can take public transportation or walk.
    - liability 7y ago
      Typically in America, school districts operate buses that are available for any student not in walking distance. Children could (and sometimes do) catch those buses after their parents have already left for work, but many parents don't trust their children with that degree of autonomy.
      - bonoboTP 7y ago
        > but many parents don't trust their children with that degree of autonomy But I guess it would appear in the school records if they didn't go to school. At least in Hungary the state takes away certain benefits if the kid regularly doesn't go to school and it can also have other consequences as well, like having to repeat the year. But to some degree it should also be part of growing up. When we were 15-16 and all of us commuted by public transportation, a few times we skipped the first class and went to a pub instead. And I didn't become some lowlife gangster, I completed a CS degree with good results.
        liability 7y ago
        When I was in elementary school I was regularly getting on the school bus by myself long after my parents left for work (at that time my mother wasn't a teacher). It worked fine for me and for plenty of other families. Parental attitudes changed more than anything else. Coddle kids longer, trust them less. That seems to be the current trend.
- LeifCarrotson 7y ago
  That's an extra class slot available at the parent's election. I took zero hour classes for civics and communication state requirements in the winter of my junior and senior years so I could take AP Physics and AP Chemistry, which were year-long classes that exceeded the science requirements and got me some college credit. In winter, it didn't interfere with sports, and you were going to be up 2 hours before the sun anyways, so why not 3? And no, there's no bussing for zero hour. You have to drive yourself to school, ride with a parent, or find a carpool setup for either of those.
  - war1025 7y ago
    Thanks for the info. We never had anything such as a zero hour, but various extra-curriculars would take place in the hour or two before school started.
bonoboTP 7y ago
And then when kids cannot conform to this it's labeled ADD and ADHD (I know that these are also real diseases, but I do wonder how much of it is perhaps caused by schedules described in your comment). Do you (parents in general) think this is normal and good for a child? I had thought homeschooling was lunatic, but if this is the alternative, I can see why people would choose it. In Hungary in high school we had 45 min classes and 15 min breaks for the first 3 breaks, and then 10 min breaks. We had usually 7 classes per day, so school went from 8:00 to 14:30, usually. Then lunch if you want. In primary school we had a break where it was mandatory to go down to the schoolyard to be outside in the fresh air (but then do whatever you want).

war1025 7y ago

WTF are kids doing at the school at 6:30 (Zero hour)? That's ridiculous.

liability 7y ago
School districts are pressured by parents with jobs to make the school day start early, so that parents and kids can leave the house at the same time in the morning.
- bonoboTP 7y ago
  Of course, because kids are so dependent on parents. Everything is interrelated. This just wouldn't be a problem in most places in Europe, because kids can take public transportation or walk.
  - liability 7y ago
    Typically in America, school districts operate buses that are available for any student not in walking distance. Children could (and sometimes do) catch those buses after their parents have already left for work, but many parents don't trust their children with that degree of autonomy.
    - bonoboTP 7y ago
      > but many parents don't trust their children with that degree of autonomy But I guess it would appear in the school records if they didn't go to school. At least in Hungary the state takes away certain benefits if the kid regularly doesn't go to school and it can also have other consequences as well, like having to repeat the year. But to some degree it should also be part of growing up. When we were 15-16 and all of us commuted by public transportation, a few times we skipped the first class and went to a pub instead. And I didn't become some lowlife gangster, I completed a CS degree with good results.
      - liability 7y ago
        When I was in elementary school I was regularly getting on the school bus by myself long after my parents left for work (at that time my mother wasn't a teacher). It worked fine for me and for plenty of other families. Parental attitudes changed more than anything else. Coddle kids longer, trust them less. That seems to be the current trend.
LeifCarrotson 7y ago
That's an extra class slot available at the parent's election. I took zero hour classes for civics and communication state requirements in the winter of my junior and senior years so I could take AP Physics and AP Chemistry, which were year-long classes that exceeded the science requirements and got me some college credit. In winter, it didn't interfere with sports, and you were going to be up 2 hours before the sun anyways, so why not 3? And no, there's no bussing for zero hour. You have to drive yourself to school, ride with a parent, or find a carpool setup for either of those.
- war1025 7y ago
  Thanks for the info. We never had anything such as a zero hour, but various extra-curriculars would take place in the hour or two before school started.

bonoboTP 7y ago

And then when kids cannot conform to this it's labeled ADD and ADHD (I know that these are also real diseases, but I do wonder how much of it is perhaps caused by schedules described in your comment). Do you (parents in general) think this is normal and good for a child? I had thought homeschooling was lunatic, but if this is the alternative, I can see why people would choose it. In Hungary in high school we had 45 min classes and 15 min breaks for the first 3 breaks, and then 10 min breaks. We had usually 7 classes per day, so school went from 8:00 to 14:30, usually. Then lunch if you want. In primary school we had a break where it was mandatory to go down to the schoolyard to be outside in the fresh air (but then do whatever you want).