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Full-day school: A bigger deal for me than for my son

Why? I figured that, even with a longer time at school, Andrew would have fewer subjects to study compared to the first school. In lower primary he only had math, science, English, Indonesian, Mandarin, art and sports on the list. Only the first five subjects were tested and there was no threat of having to repeat the whole year because of low grades. Longer hours, but less pressure.

Ruth Ninajanty (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, August 22, 2016

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Full-day school: A bigger deal for me than for my son Elementary school students pray together on the first day of school at the Elementary School SDN Simomulyo V, Surabaya in East Java on July 18. (Antara/Zabur Karuru)

I

asked Andrew, my fifth grader, about the full-day school idea and he said, “I don’t think it’s too long because, for me, 2 p.m. or 4:20 p.m. is not long. You come home, and still have time until bedtime.”

This year, he goes home at 4:20 p.m. whenever he has remedial or extracurricular activities at school. He has remedial lessons on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday while his extracurricular chess class is on Friday. So that’s almost every day of the week.

(Read also: Great extracurricular activities in Jakarta to enhance your skills)

It’s not that he went home much earlier last year or the year before, but I’m afraid school will bore him. So, when there was a shift in the education ministry and the idea of full-day school was thrown on the table earlier this month, I found myself contemplating Andrew’s school days, which were only 30-minutes shy of what the new minister had in mind.

Flash back to five years ago, when I was shopping around for Andrew’s elementary school. I visited several private schools and took a look at each school’s curriculum and fees. It came down to a final two, which couldn’t have been much more different from each other. The first one had 35 students with one teacher per class. School started at 7 a.m. and ended at noon. The school used Indonesian and the national curriculum. The second one had 20 students with two teachers per class. School started at 7:45 a.m. and ended at 2 p.m. The school used English with a Singaporean curriculum. I sent Andrew for tryouts and we agreed to go for the latter option.

Why? I figured that, even with a longer time at school, Andrew would have fewer subjects to study compared to the first school. In lower primary he only had math, science, English, Indonesian, Mandarin, art and sports on the list. Only the first five subjects were tested and there was no threat of having to repeat the whole year because of low grades. Longer hours, but less pressure.

Gradually, as the hours increased, school started to introduce Christian studies, moral studies and computer. But each was only an hour or less per week with no final exam at the end of the term. No added pressure.

His typical school day starts and ends with reading. Students are required to bring English books to school to read. By the end of each year, Andrew can finish up to 10 fiction books (or more if he brings comics, which are allowed for lower primary students). 

(Read also: Six children's books every parent should get)

But leaving school at 4:20 p.m. doesn’t mean he’s homework-free. I have occasionally arrived home and found him sleeping in the middle of finishing his homework. He then wakes up before sunrise to continue where he left off.

He does complain about school and often says he can’t wait for the weekend to arrive, but he’s not against the full-day school idea. What’s so great about school then, if he’s willing to stay the whole day? “School has snack time and lunch time. Students can play if they have time after eating.”

Those are the moments I ask myself whether sending him to a full-day school is a great idea and whether I made the right choice. If his favorite subject is “snack”, wouldn’t he be happier going home earlier?

To my surprise, when I asked him whether he would prefer shorter school hours, he answered: “Well, I could gain more knowledge. I couldn’t play that long, because it would be suddenly dark and already bedtime, but I guess it’s useful to learn something new. So it’s good.”

During his elementary years, Andrew took different (mandatory) after-school activities, from futsal and wushu to chess and coding. Asked about what else he wanted to learn if the minister decided on the full-day school agenda, he answered: “Photography or shop classes, where we can learn to create something.” Whatever that means.

It must be tiring to study the whole day. He would say lightly, “School is tiring at times but full-day school could include naptime so we’re not tired.” I laughed, simply because the answer came from a boy who stopped taking naps in kindergarten, and thinks sleeping during the day is a waste of time.

 

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Ruth Ninajanty is a mom blogger who enjoys everyday adventure with her son.

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