(This week’s civic education and engagement column from Danville’s The Republican newspaper.)
We send our children to our county’s public schools expecting that they’ll receive the preparation they need to become productive, self-sufficient adults. We talk a great deal about the challenges of an increasingly global economy and often fret about whether our kids will be able to keep up with their counterparts from other nations.
Yet our state and nation continue to cling to a school calendar that was developed well over a century ago largely to support the needs of small family farms. Students take a two- to three-month break in the summer not because we want them to have fun, but because there was a time when children were largely viewed as free labor for their parents. Back in 1900, roughly two-thirds of our state’s residents lived in rural areas. By 2020, only about a fifth of Hoosiers were rural dwellers, and most small family farms had vanished from the landscape.
The U.S. Constitution does not expressly address education, so decisions about schools and the length of the academic year fall to each state. For many years, Indiana required just 175 days of classroom time, but in 1987, the General Assembly increased the rule to 180 days. That’s comparable to most states. The Pew Research Center says seven states require fewer days than Indiana, with Colorado mandating just 160. Four states require around 185 days.
But 180 days puts the U.S. near the bottom of the countries we compete with, most of which keep kids in school for at least 200 days. Japan, for example, generally requires 220 days. Our 180 days may have been adequate at one time, but society’s expectations for schools have exploded over the past century.
The first public schools opened in the 17th century, instructing students in reading, writing, and arithmetic, with geography and science eventually joining the curriculum. Until about 1900, that was it. During the first half of the 20th century, society determined that schools needed to do more to prepare young people, leading to the adoption of physical education and athletics, vocational and business classes, home economics, art, music, and drama. The responsibility for transporting students to and from school shifted from families to school districts. Serving lunches followed in the 1950s, along with classes in higher-level science and math, world languages, and even teaching kids how to drive.
The 1960s brought sex education, more career classes, and programs like Head Start, Title I, and adult education. By the 1970s, the list had grown to incorporate special education, substance abuse prevention, parenting classes, environmental subjects, the metric system, and more. Many schools were expected to add breakfast programs, meaning local government became responsible for serving 10 of a child’s 21 weekly meals.
The 1980s arrived with computer and keyboarding classes, expanded social studies, curriculum about various ethnic groups, and major expansions of health and psychological services. The 1990s saw more complex computer classes, lessons in CPR and AIDS prevention, and other “social” issues. Since then, most states have implemented high-stakes standardized testing programs. The Indiana Academic Standards establishes expectations that even the best teachers cannot attain because there just isn’t enough time to teach all the standards for every subject — and each General Assembly session ends with new requirements for school districts to fit into already-packed class days.
Despite all these additional subjects teachers have been (and are) expected to deliver, the school year has remained at 180 days and the school day hasn’t even grown by even an hour in the last 50 years. We’re trying to prepare children for the increasing demands of a significantly more complex world using a structure created to meet the needs of an Indiana that’s long gone. Common sense would suggest that’s unsustainable, but it’s hard to overcome nostalgia for those good old days. (Credit to educational expert Jamie Vollmer for much of the information in this column.)