Longer School Days in the U.S.?

Just read this article off of the AP wire:

U.S. schools weigh extending their hours

a few excerpts from the piece:

Fletcher-Maynard Academy, a combined public elementary and middle school in Cambridge, Mass., that is experimenting with an extended, eight-hour school day.

On average, U.S. students go to school 6.5 hours a day, 180 days a year, fewer than in many other industrialized countries, according to a report by the Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank.

Dawn Oliver was so apprehensive about a plan this year to expand the day at her daughter's middle school in Fall River, Mass., that she considered pulling 11-year-old Brittany out.

"We all had the same thought in our head, which was, 'Oh my God, these kids are going to have their head in a book for the same amount of time as working a full-time job,'" Oliver said.

Would that be such a tragedy? In Taiwan, kids attend elementary school all day long and then go to supplemental schools in the late afternoon. This often adds up to 10 hours a day. A 10 hour school day is par for the course here. I know that some of you out there will scoff at this...what else would the kids be doing? Sitting in front of the TV or computer getting fat? Getting into trouble? Working some meaningless minimum wage job? Taiwanese kids are as well behaved and bright as any I have ever met because they are so well educated. The long school days are a solid way to instill a strong work ethic. No one will ever say that Taiwanese people are lazy...