Introduction to the scientific study of education

by Charles Hubbard Judd

The Total School Day

The arrangement of the daily program involves, first of all, the determination of the total amount of time available in the school day. Reliable information on this matter is at hand for a large number of the smaller cities of the United States, as indicated in the following quotation:

The following statistics show present conditions regarding the length of the school day. Of 1,270 cities reporting, 338 have a school day of from four and a half to five hours; 521, from five to five and a half hours; 411, from five and a half to six hours. Of 1,310 cities reporting, 1,242 have two daily sessions, and 68 but one daily session. The tendency is toward a longer school day, especially in the grammar grades and in the high school. The opinion of most school men is that a high school of two sessions is superior to a high school of one session. With the one-session plan, but little time is available for study periods. It is evident that four recitations, the number generally required, demand more than one or two 45 or 50 minute periods for study. The theory is that with the one-session plan pupils will prepare their lessons at home in the afternoon. The experience of the superintendents who have tried the one-session plan has generally been similar to that of the superintendent of schools at Detroit, Minn., who says:

The one-session plan which I found in vogue in this high school was retained for the present year so that its workings might be studied. It is fine in theory, but a failure in practice. Asking the pupils to be ready for work at 8:30 caused much tardiness. It was impossible for those who came by the bus or train to be on time. Then the fact that the high school had one time schedule and the grades another, while occupying the same building, caused endless confusion. During the afternoon, when students came back only for shop and laboratory work or to consult teachers, there was further annoyance from students passing to and fro through the halls. There was too much idling about the buildings for the good of the grades in session or of the high-school students themselves. Of course, the fine theory was that students would spend the afternoon studying in the quiet and freedom of their homes, but they didn’t. Too many of them roamed the streets and came to class unprepared the next day. The plan also kept the industrial teachers waiting until afternoon before they could begin their work. They were compelled to do it when pupils were tired and nervous. This work ought to be interspersed through the day to relieve the tension of the other work.

One argument advanced in favor of the one-session plan is that many students work their way through school by using the afternoon. The facts are otherwise. This year only three boys have worked afternoons, and possibly the same number of girls.

Next year we shall return to the “long day” and lengthen the time devoted to each subject, so as to give teachers a better chance to teach it thoroughly. Each student will also have a longer time at school to study under the supervision of the principal.[81]

The one-session plan which I found in vogue in this high school was retained for the present year so that its workings might be studied. It is fine in theory, but a failure in practice. Asking the pupils to be ready for work at 8:30 caused much tardiness. It was impossible for those who came by the bus or train to be on time. Then the fact that the high school had one time schedule and the grades another, while occupying the same building, caused endless confusion. During the afternoon, when students came back only for shop and laboratory work or to consult teachers, there was further annoyance from students passing to and fro through the halls. There was too much idling about the buildings for the good of the grades in session or of the high-school students themselves. Of course, the fine theory was that students would spend the afternoon studying in the quiet and freedom of their homes, but they didn’t. Too many of them roamed the streets and came to class unprepared the next day. The plan also kept the industrial teachers waiting until afternoon before they could begin their work. They were compelled to do it when pupils were tired and nervous. This work ought to be interspersed through the day to relieve the tension of the other work.

One argument advanced in favor of the one-session plan is that many students work their way through school by using the afternoon. The facts are otherwise. This year only three boys have worked afternoons, and possibly the same number of girls.

Next year we shall return to the “long day” and lengthen the time devoted to each subject, so as to give teachers a better chance to teach it thoroughly. Each student will also have a longer time at school to study under the supervision of the principal.[81]

At Gary the eight-hour school day with variations in the program to secure play, shopwork, class work, and entertainment is the ideal toward which the system is working. In some other quarters the reduction of formal school work has been advocated on the assumption that outdoor work and play can be supplied by the home or some other agency enough to fill up the pupil’s waking hours. Whatever the form taken by the discussion, one leading tendency appears everywhere: the child’s work should be organized throughout the day. In most communities this means that the school will be called on to extend its control to most of the hours.