May 13, 2007 10:37 PM

A novel proposal: align school days with workhours
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 10:37 PM

In today's Boston Globe, E.J. Graff questions why we still let schools get out at 2:30 pm when the workday goes until 5 pm (o.k., theoretically 5 pm, we all know that that's only for part-time workers).

Consider the bizarre mismatch between our 21st century's 24-7 workday and our schools' 19th-century agrarian schedules. Why are children still let out of schools at 2:30 p.m. to milk the cows, when their parents' jobs don't end until 5 p.m. or later? In 2006, only 1.6 percent of American workers were down on the farm, and yet schools still follow that vestigial schedule. As a result, millions of American working families are forced to patch together afterschool care plans, one by one.

If parents are well off, they shell out big bucks for au pairs, nannies, enrichment programs, or -- even in high-end districts like Newton or Wellesley -- send their children to private schools with family-friendly afternoon schedules. Some lower-income families work tag-team schedules, so that someone's always at home, even if that consigns the parents to a mere virtual marriage. Other women take "mothers' hours" jobs that pay less than "regular" jobs, as if the need to care for children were a private disability rather than a demand facing 75 percent of American workers at some phase in their working lives.