Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't the work day still mostly 9 to 5? Anyways the basic idea of the bill is to extend the school day to a full eight hours.
Actually that all depends on where you are employed. My job is no where near those hours. My opening shift is 5am-2pm. Morning shifts are 7am-4pm. Mid shifts are 11am-8pm. Night shifts are 12pm-9pm and there is also an overnight shift from 10pm-7am. There are also shifts that vary throughout the day depending on that person's availability. Some days I work 9am-9pm just to get my hours in for the week.
Granted I work in retail and for the largest retailer in the world. But there is no 9-5 shift at all. Even the people who are lucky to have a shift close to that, it is 9-6 since the lunch time is not paid by Walmart and you have to clock out for that hour and stay an hour later to make your full 8 hour work day.
So to say that a "normal" workday is 9-5 is only accurate for some companies. My wife is an Asst Mgr. Her hours go from 8am-8pm, if she is lucky enough to get all of her associates problems solved as well as her own work done in that time. There are times where she has to go in on her "days off" to do some work that she couldnt get accomplished on her days when she is normally scheduled.
9-5 is a thing of the past. The only places I know of around here that have those hours, banks. Every other company that operates in my area, all open up much earlier and stay open much later than that. Then there are places that are open 24/7. So such a bill doesnt account for those parents who dont work in banks.
I could see this being a benefit for High School or College. But my child is in kindergarden. What purpose would it serve for a child at such an early stage in school to be there during a "work day"? My child has 13 more years of school ahead of her, more if she goes to college. Why at such a tender age of 5 would there be any need for a child to know what it is like to work a normal shift? They cant even legally work for another 11 years anyways.
Even if the purpose is to extend the school day to a full 8 hours, what purpose would it serve? Kids now have shorter and shorter attention spans. If kids are having issues staying focused the time they are there, what would telling them they have to be there more do? It would give the kids more time to lose focus and do even worse cause they are not focused on what they need to be.
Even when I went to school from 8am-3pm, there was many times during my 40 minutes classes that I would daydream, fall asleep or whatever. I wouldnt be focused on what the teacher was saying and not pay attention. Yes, I am paying for it now, but that isnt going to help today's kids. They are going to do the same exact thing. They will get into more trouble and get worse grades cause they will not be able to sit through an hour long class listening to the teacher talk about something.
It will be even worse if the kid doesnt like the teacher or the subject matter at hand. Its not like there is a wide selection of teachers available for all subjects or easy to just switch teachers. So basically we will tell the kids that they have to live with it? That isnt a lesson that a kid needs to be learning at such a young age. They will learn it when they start working, but simply put they already have learned that aspect anyways. They should already know that there are going to be things that they cant do cause of various reasons and they have to accept that. But forcing a kid to sit in a room listening to someone they dont like talk about something they dont like isnt going to make anything better for anyone. The parents, kid and teacher will all lose in such a situation.
So that is what I see and what I think. It is my own personal opinion and isnt going to be shared by everyone. But simply put, that is how it is for me and my family. There is no way having my child sit in school for longer periods of time that will benefit anyone.