In the USA, average amount of time spent in homework is* about 7
hrs /week.* Average school day is 8 hrs.* Sleep is about 8
hours. You have to subtract the sleeping time; its inaccessible.
Average 9 hrs out of 16 waking hours is spent in or about
school.* We're at 57% of a day spent on school. Then there is
travel time: The average travel time on a bus to school is 35
minutes there, 35 back.* Let's call that an hour a day. Now
we're up to 10 hours a day out of 16.* 62.5% of a waking day
spent on school related things. Now I will expand to add up the
little things that take away from free-time in a kid's average
day with the assumption that these are times where they don't
have much autonomy: Now you have approximately 8 minutes for
breakfast and 20 minutes spent eating dinner (US Average).*
We'll call that 1/2 hour. 10.5 hrs a day spent not having to
yourself.* Then you have time spent on hygeine: US Average is
1/2 hour - 1 hour. a day.* (I imagine teenagers would be more
like the hour - primping and preening; appearance - much of the
time with hygene is spent BECAUSE of having to go to school. So
now there are 11 hours a day between school, family obligations,
personal hygene, much of which is making yourself presentable
for school. 5 hours left a day.** Out of 24. 20.8% Free time.
79.2%: School-related, Sleep, Eating/hygene. But it's easy to
tell any story with statistics;* Using one set of metrics, you
show that a minority of time is spent with school; using my set
of metrics, a majority of time is spent with school. [with an
emphasis on "What's left over for the individual?"] Parents do
not control a child's day once they enter the education system
as it currently stands.* I didn't even include sports; I could
easily add the recent push for encouraging sports in kids; which
adds up to even more time related to school; Everything you said
is true: If you don't graduate high school or vocational school,
your employment options are quite limited.* That is how things
are currently set up. Good schools work well for those they work
well for.* They worked for me.* They worked for you. Do I have
an alternative I could present to a community that's complete
and full and entirely researched, tested and the like? No. It's
a work in progress.* This is part of that work for me. You can
dismiss what I'm saying.* I do not need to convince you that
there are problems with the current system that need to be
solved.* But I am grateful for the exchange, because it
challenges me to further clarify my thinking and presentation.
You've made it clear that you won't budge in your position.*
Things are fine as they are.* That's my take; correct me if I'm
mistaken. But I know of kids who are cutters; a boy in my 6th
grade class was tormented by a teacher and jumped down from the
3rd flight of stairs to "end it"; in his note, it was the
criticisms of the teacher that brought him to it.* He made it
thankfully; and has grown to be a very intelligent guy. The
system works for those it works for; but some people crack under
the pressure.* Why should that be?* What's missing in the way
things are being done now?
