Murray, NEB- School is very essential for young children to grow and develop into members of society. School is a place where students can grow and learn, but the length of school days may vary based on location. Brazil, on record, has the shortest school days only lasting four hours! This poses the question how long should a school day be? The typical school day is six to seven hours a day, but in many cases around the world this number can vary.

School hours can be very different in different parts of the world, for example the average length of a school day in Italy is five hours. This is completely different compared to Thailand where their school days last up to nine and a half hours. Australia, Russia, and Japan share the amount of hours in a school day all consisting of six hours. But does the length of school days and test scores have correlation? According to the National Education Association schools that increased the school day length by 25 percent, had their schools test scores raised by 5-10 percent.

Increasing the length of school days seems to have a great benefit, but increasing school days for too long could have negative consequences. Long school days can affect students mentally, giving students anxiety and academic pressure. Many students participate in after school activities, the longer school days would affect the scheduling of activities and students’ night lives. For how long a school day should be, schools should find a balance between students’ activities and how long they think their students need to be in the building.