Should we be worried that our kids are getting less instruction than their global peers? Advocates and public officials sure are. They’ve long argued that American students need to spend more time in school. Such pleas have been redoubled in the aftermath of the pandemic, with New Mexico just this spring adding weeks to its mandated school year.
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan once told a congressional hearing, “Our students today are competing against children in India and China. Those students are going to school 25 to 30 percent longer than we are. Our students, I think, are at a competitive disadvantage.”
