I never really cared too much about school. It was just a place to play sports, meet friends, and find out the latest gossip or where the next party was being held. I never thought that school was that important. My parents did not push me to excel in school as long as I passed my classes. I worked hard during the fall when I played football to keep my grades up to be able to play – because that was the most important part of school to me. The rest of the year, I goofed off.

Not until years after I graduated did I learn the importance of an education. So I went to college at a later age, graduated, and have been able to make a very decent living in all the jobs that I have held since graduating from college. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college.

I completely respect teachers for the sometimes thankless job they do in educating our children and jumping through all the federal, state and local hoops to get the job done. It’s never a part-time job for them or an 8-5 job either, nor one that pays very well.

So education is important to me – but I think there are better ways to educate our children. Today, we’ll look at the school year.

With school getting ready to start in many places across Montana this week, I have to voice my opinion about the school year or how long they stretch out the school year to obtain the required instructional time.

As most people know, public schools must be in session for 180 days. This year, some schools start on Wednesday, August 25, 2010, and end on Friday, June 3, 2011.

I’d like to see public school start the Tuesday after Labor Day, which is always observed on the first Monday in September, and end the Friday before Memorial Day every year, which is always observed on the last Monday of May.

This school year, there are 263 days between the Tuesday after Labor Day (September 7) and the Friday before Memorial Day (May 27) weekends included –plenty of time to squeeze in the required 180 days of instructional time – and still have time off for holidays, teacher training, etc., and still be out in time for the Memorial Day holiday.

As a comparison, there are 283 days between August 25, 2010 and June 3, 2011 (weekends included) – this school year in some schools.

Of course, some people will say that students in the United States are behind other countries in subjects such as math and science, and that we need more time in school to make our students’ perform better in the world. An easy answer for that is with the typical school day for students of about six-seven hours (minus lunch), another hour could be added for more instructional time.

There’s plenty of time to instruct the students and still have time for family vacations, summer fun, and learning outside of school. As parents, we should push for a more “compact” school year even if it means longer days at school.