Real Talk
Yesterday, I came across an article in The Atlantic with a headline that made me mad before I even clicked it. The piece: “Why Does the School Day End Two Hours Before the Workday?” It raises questions about why school hours don’t align with a typical 9-to-5 work schedule.
Wait, what?
If you’re a teacher like me, you already know why this kind of talk makes our blood pressure spike. In fact, it doesn’t just spike, it boils. So let me break down exactly why this argument is not only out of touch but deeply dismissive of the needs of teachers and students.
1. Teachers are NOT babysitters.
Let me be blunt: Find a daycare, because schools are not primarily childcare centers.
We teach students; we don’t change diapers.
I have a four-year degree (most of us have master’s degrees), specialized training, state requirements, endless professional development, and a responsibility to help children learn, grow, and master the curriculum.
My job is not — and has never been — to “entertain children while their parents work” or serve as a default solution for gaps in the modern workday.
2. Kids already have long enough days.
The article centers the needs of working parents, but largely leaves out what longer days would mean for children and teachers. Here’s what’s missing from that argument:
- Kids are already exhausted.
- Kids already want to see their parents more, not less.
- Students need parental bonding, support, and discipline to help them grow up mentally strong.
Adding extra hours doesn’t increase learning; it decreases joy and the opportunity to just be a kid at home. Kids crash out by the end of a six and a half hour day of school. Adding more time will only exacerbate the behavioral and emotional problems that teachers already have to deal with.
3. Society needs to change, not the school day.
Here’s a radical thought:
Maybe the problem isn’t that school ends “too early.”
Maybe the problem is that families have been pushed into a system where they can barely afford to raise their own children and instead have to work long hours.
So now we are saying the solution is to let schools raise society’s kids and absorb yet another responsibility society refuses to address?!
No.
Absolutely not. Not our jobs.
Instead of shifting responsibility onto schools and teachers, society should be advocating for:
- Flexible work schedules for parents
- Affordable childcare options
- Paid family leave
- Living wages
- Systems that support families, not strain them
These are real solutions that avoid completely gutting the teaching profession.
4. Teachers already work far beyond our contract hours.
Conversations like this often treat the school day as if it were the only time teachers work. Let me clear that up for you:
The school day is the shortest part of a teacher’s job.
Before school? We’re grading.
After school? We’re planning.
On weekends? We’re prepping lessons, attending trainings, or catching up on everything we couldn’t finish between 7 AM and 3 PM.
Teachers are not clocking out at 2:30 and skipping into the sunset. We are squeezing in paperwork, IEP meetings, data reports, parent messages, and the five hours of teacher tasks no one sees.
Extending the school day doesn’t create more instructional value. Instead, it just steals more time from teachers’ families and adds more burnout to a profession already in flames.
5. Schools don’t need longer days — we need stronger support.
Extending the school day won’t magically raise test scores. It won’t fix poverty. It won’t replace involved parenting. Certainly it won’t reduce behavior issues. And it won’t make kids happier, healthier, or more motivated.
Here’s what will:
- Smaller class sizes
- Mental health support
- Affordable childcare
- Parent-friendly workplaces
- Community services
- Valuing and retaining experienced teachers
- Giving teachers time to plan and rest so they can actually teach well
Kids need rested teachers and available parents — not longer days.
So no. The solution is NOT extending the school day.
The solution is creating a society where parents can afford to raise their children, and where teachers are allowed to do the job we were trained to do: educate, not babysit.
Schools are part of raising a community. They are not meant to be the entire community.
If we want better outcomes for kids, we don’t need to trap them in classrooms until 5 PM. We need to support the families and teachers who love them. We should not be trying to “fix” children’s lives by having less parental involvement when we actually need more.
What we should be fixing are the economic and workplace structures that prevent parents from being present in the first place. And there is the real solution.
