Wallpaper over cracks

Longer school hours!!!

So here is the new idea, unsurprisingly put forth by a former investment banker,  to solve the problem of child care in our increasingly materialistic and expensive society.  Instead of encouraging frugality and moderation, people living within their means and more secure part time work and flexible working hours, nooooo, instead secondary schools should have 11 hour days.

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A former investment banker is spearheading a controversial plan to open the UK's first free school dedicated to mixed-ability teaching, with a school day lasting 10 and a half hours..........Another feature of the school will be its long school day – it will start at 7.30am and go through to 6pm.

The idea is that lessons – six periods – will be concentrated in the morning session followed by a break for lunch.The afternoon session will include supervised homework, games and "enrichment activities" which can include anything from one-to-one teaching for struggling pupils to voluntary activities and clubs. .....A public meeting held to discuss the project heard fears that it would be seized upon by middle-class white families and ignore the needs of the large black population in the area – a charge refuted by Mr Wesemann.

 My daughter had a long school day at playcentre in her primary days, it was not nice for me and I would have loved to have other options.  It is quite sad that we're being forced into this as the norm because we are increasingly needing to work more and more to earn enough money to feed the beast that is our consumerist society.
Unlike the 50's advertising lie, which put forth the idea that all our labour saving devices would free up time for more leisure and togetherness, it seems that all that has happened is it is freeing us up to spend more time apart, earning money to buy more things, instead of doing more things together, we are replacing them with stuff so we can avoid personal contact, Iphones, ipads, PC's, etc....texting, instant messaging, emailing...no more talking, no more visiting...it is all so cold and empty and lifeless.

Perhaps if we forget this useless 2.4 failing family standard we may actually discover some alternatives to solving this crisis that doesn't include more and more institutionalisation.