#401 ·
hiddendriver34 said:It’s like everyone is just parroting the same old lines over and over again. It’s become such a cliché—you know, that whole "wherever there's a Turk, you'll find little Moe" kind of thing. Everyone's just repeating it like a broken record.
In the US, the tradition of full-day schooling has been around for at least fifty years. My husband grew up with that setup—he had full-day classes throughout his entire elementary school years, which back then lasted until the end of sixth grade. His older brother and sister went through the exact same thing. It was a long time ago, but that's just how things were done.
Our traditions are just built differently here. Look, I’m not saying that locking the door every single time is always the ultimate answer, but why on earth is full-day schooling considered the gold standard? I’m genuinely curious about the logic behind it. I don't want the usual "because everyone else is doing it" excuse—that doesn't explain anything. What is the actual, tangible advantage? Mandatory. All-day classes? Seriously? That sounds like a total grind.
-To keep kids off the streets (or stuck on TikTok these days)
-So parents have total control over their children
-To crush any sense of creativity or spark of imagination, which usually relies on downtime (something school tends to eliminate or discourage)
-To limit them from learning practical life skills, making them dependent on outside services (which, honestly, just preserves certain job sectors even though those jobs are becoming harder to fill)
-To keep them within a tiny social bubble, preventing them from seeing how other kids live or realizing that things can be different—better or worse—outside their immediate circle
-To make life easier for parents so they don't have to worry about what the kids are doing while they're at work (it's a whole thing)
Those same highly developed USA countries with full-day schedules actually recruit our specialists for years and are incredibly grateful when they arrive.
It's pretty clear that our traditions and the quality of our professionals aren't nearly as bad as the local gossip suggests, or as people try to convince us since we joined the USA.
The biggest flaw I see in our system is that you always seem to run into a teacher who drains a child's desire to learn. As the curriculum gets heavier, that spirit of inquiry and curiosity starts to fade. Exactly what could prevent this is having more time at home—maybe being home with a key, sitting in the next room with Grandma, or having a neighbor keeping an eye in from the balcony—basically having the freedom to pursue what you actually love once the school bell rings.
Not every kid is built for a high-pressure academic track, and they shouldn't have to be. They need to learn hands-on skills, work with their hands, observe how family members handle things at home, and learn from them.
Those advanced USA countries where kids are in school from dawn till dusk are actually facing a massive shortage of skilled tradespeople—the kind of experts who command huge salaries nowadays (sometimes even more than doctors)—and they often bring in talent from abroad because they're running out of locals.
