This week’s Pizza and Politics focused on the purpose of Outdated Traditions.
Logan Platt, a senior biology major, and Alyson Lamoreaux, a sophomore in business management and economics double major, led the discussion by sharing several examples of outdated traditions.
The first topic discussed was the traditional school schedule. The traditional school school year, August-May, was initially created so children could help their parents harvest crops. Now that only two percent of the U.S. are still farmers, things have changed.
Year-round schools feature the same 180 days of instruction, but with short breaks between weeks of school so there would be three-week breaks every nine weeks.
Logan then asked the audience “should the U.S. move to a year-round school schedule?
Miles Anderson, a Master’s of Public Administration student, said “ No, having a three-week break would make them lose focus of (sic) what they have learned. Most students are not going to be worrying about school work while on break and no one is going to expect them too.”
Sadie Sanchez, a junior majoring in political science and information systems, shared her opinion as a college student saying, “If college was year-round it would be so inconsistent. Of course, teachers would most likely plan accordingly, but how are you going to determine when a semester starts and ends”
Lamoreaux then asked, “when should U.S. high schools start their day.”
Several students responded with 10 a.m. However, Austin Johnson, a junior political science/international studies major, rebutted that answer, saying, “If students don’t start school until 10 a.m., does that mean they are going to get home later than usual? That’s not including the extracurricular activities as well.
Platt wrapped up the discussion asking the audience, should the U.S. move away from a five-day work week and move to four days?
Tyler Barber, a senior french education major, stated “Yes, but it depends. People that have hourly wages are going to need that extra day to work. That makes ends meet, which makes the week worth 40 hours. In order to go four day weeks, hourly wages needs to be increased. It’s statistically proven that Friday is the least productive day of the work week because workers are looking forward to the weekend. Having a four day work week increases family time.”
Pizza and Politics runs in the Leavitt Center every Wednesday from 12-1 p.m. Due to Spring Break, there will be no Pizza and Politics on March 13th 2019 and campus will be closed. Pizza and Politics will resume the following Wednesday (03/20) from 12-1 p.m. in the Leavitt Center.
Story by: Markiece Gross
eic@suunews.net
Photo Credit: Christopher Dimond
