Is It Time For Michigan To End This Outdated School Requirement?

The school systems and the way that schools operate now is completely different than they were 15 years ago when I was in elementary school or even 6-7 years ago while I was in high school. The rules, teachers, methods, and curriculum are all different among many other things as the school systems continue to adapt to the changes of the world.

One of the main changes that schools have made is adjusting to the technological advancements in the world as they have presented students with laptops, tablets, and other technology to help with their studies. They have also added more books to the banned books list and have gone away from certain required classes. Although all of these changes have been made, there is an old-time school requirement that has yet to be evaluated, and many are wondering if it's time for this to change as well.

For as long as I can remember, school districts have been required to operational for 180 school instructional days. This is part of what designs the school calendar each year for every district and why too many school days could result in a shorter summer. Now, I do believe in "Don't fix what ain't broke" but at the same time I believe in improving system to better the quality of life. With that being said, there have been rumblings of changing the school requirement to better serve students and teachers.

There's a new idea that has popped up on the scene to battle the old tradition and instead of requiring a certain number of instructional days the state of Michigan would require a certain number of instructional hours. The argument is that shouldn't the number of hours spent in the classroom matter more than the number of days they're in school.

The idea is that they would set a requirement for the number of hours that students spend in the classroom based on the standard school day and even account for early dismissals and snow days. The only difference is, instead of coming in for an extra day, they can have a half day or make a half day a full day to cover the hours and not have to cut into their summer.

This would allow for every student who attends school to receive the same amount of instructional time and partial days are much less of a problem for families. Also, if they reach the end of the school year in June with no interruptions to their schedule, they drop the extra hours and end the year early.

At the end of the day, there is very little change to the school structure happening if the requirement is changed from days to hours but switching to hours allows for more flexibility in the school year calendar. I personally don't care which option is chosen but the academic growth of the students makes it worth a debate.