ÜDS-Sosyal 2006-1 Soru=54

We understand from the passage that school programmes in America ----.

American schools need more time if they are to teach
efficiently. The school year is fixed at or below 180
days in all but a handful of states – down from more
than 190 in the late nineteenth century, when
Saturday-morning sessions were common. The
instructional day is only about six hours, of which
much is taken up with nonacademic matters. In 1994,
a national commission calculated that in four years of
high school a typical American student puts in less
than half as much time on academic subjects as do
students in Japan, France and Germany. Extending
the school day or the school year can get expensive
and complicated, and reducing nonacademic
electives and physical education brings complaints
from parents and students alike. But there is one
quite cheap and uncomplicated way to increase
study time: add more homework. You may not be
surprised to learn that homework raises student
achievement, at least in the higher grades. For young
children homework appears not to be particularly
helpful. Even among older students it is hard to be
sure of the extent to which more homework may lead
to higher achievement.