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To push back on that: we force kids to leave their families for like 8 hours a day to go to school. We kindof do need them to teach everything that is good, because the government is forcing their parents not to. To say that they're going to take our children away for most of their childhood, and then also restrict them from physical activity, is well past just borderline evil.
Elementary schools in my area are 6 hours (8:30-2:30), so definitely less than 'most'. Leaves about 10 waking hours a day between parents and kids. Plus 24/2 on weekends.
I don't think the average parent is actively imparting wisdom to their child fro more than 10 hours a day every day - even if they don't have a job and have a maid to do all the houswework, most people can't talk for 10 hours a day without their voice giving out.
So I don't think this is an actual restriction on parents raising their kids in the way you imply.
What I think is a restriction in the way you apply is the fact that in most families with kids, both parents have to work in order to keep the household comfortable, that work typically lasts longer than the schoolday, and typically leaves parents tired and harried when they get home. I think that's the actual largest limiting factor on how much parents get to actively mentor their kids.
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So don't force them.
Also, it's not as many hours as you make it sound. On average, American students spend about 5/6th of their waking hours outside of school.
Not having gym class is not restricting students from physical activity. Recess is still a thing. I'm not even in principle opposed to having more recess.
That link does not specify time spent in school, it specifies "instructional time", which is not the same. For example, California says that instructional time is "when all pupils in the class are scheduled to attend". This does not include the time between different classes, or time spent commuting to and from school, or time spent eating lunch, but the kids can't go home and be with their parents during those times.
While I would disagree that that time is "most of their childhood", it's more than 1/6th of their childhood. Anecdotally, my childhood experience was the same as the other repliers': 8 hours each school day, and 180 school days each year, which totals to a quarter of the year spent "in school".
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I’m trying to remember my school, but I believe it was like: bus picks is up at 7:30. 8:10-8:20 or so was the bell, then leave at 2:45 and home by 3:30 (or so).
I don’t think my point hinges on it being exactly 8 hours, though.
The point is that the state requires you to send your kids to them for a substantial amount of time, and this implies that responsibilities which could or have historically fallen on families now fall on the state.
Yes you can homeschool, but most people aren’t able to actually pull it off.
No, but it does hinge on it being a substantial enough amount of time that parental substitution is required. I don't think schools need to take over duties from parents when parents have possession of the kid for 5/6th of the kid's waking hours.
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Assuming school is 8 hours, and sleep is eight hours, it’s about half of a student’s waking hours on weekdays.
a) It's more like 6 hours; b) weekdays aren't all days; c) not all weekdays have school (because of summer and holidays).
I mean... I don't know how you can even contest this. It's all right there on the page I linked. 1000-1080 hours of school (varies by state) divided by waking hours (365*16) = ~1/6 of a student's waking hours are spent in school. Even less than that when you consider that earlier grades are <1000 hours.
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