a COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY, SPRING, 1973

 

 

PROPOSAL FOR A FOUR-DAY ACADEMIC WEEK

 

     
   
   
   
 
   
  
  
  
    
 
  
 
 
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 

TABLE I
AN EXAMPLE OF A FOUR-DAY ACADEMIC WEEK FOR PACULTY
CARRYING A 12-MOUR TEACHING LOAD

Time Block Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
$. 8:00 9:15 am. Class Clea
AE A2
2. 9:25-10:40 am Ctass Clabs
ci C2
3. 10:50-12:05 p.m. Class Class
Di D2
4. 12:15- 1:30 p.m. Class Class
BI ° B2

S$. 1:40 2:55 p.m.
6 3$:05- 4:20 pm.
7. 4:30- 5:45 pm.
8. 5:55- 7:10 pm.
9. 7:20- 8:35 p.m.
10. 8:45-10:00 p.m.

Sufficient time remains under this system for student advising,
committee meetings, laboratory classes, and some personal study
and research on teaching days. For the studgnt the social and
recreational advantages are obvious but also lie im the provision
of discrete times for classes and recreation or employment.

A four-day week might provide incentive for more students to
continue or to begin attendance in college, which could be ad-
vantageous in these days of sagging enrollments To many outsiders,
students seem to have plenty of time for politics, protest and
pleasure, but a four-day week conceivably could stimulate greater
output from a more concentrated teaching week and might reduce
class absenteetsm and improve relationships between administra-
tion and students not dissimilarly to the way employees responded
to managers, in many cases, when the four-day week was instituted.
There is the likelihood of students receiving greater attention to
their needs from the faculty during the four teaching days when
their teachers can devote most of their time to them. This system
would tend to dichotomize faculty research and teaching. Student
morale—which appears very low when one views contemporary
campuses with their ill-kempt and humorless inhabitants— might
be greatly improved.

 

The optional and compatible three-day weekend session offers
many additional benefits when combined with the four-day week.
Persons working part-time or already on a four-day work week,
commuting students, housewives, persons who wish to be employed
as much as possible, and those who like to concentrate their classes
would be served. If not fully scheduled it might serve well as an
adjunct to the four-day week for special institutes, short courses,
or for courses for some reason difficult to schedule in the four-day
week. Students might in rare cases, then, be enrolled for classes in
both sessions.

Specifically, the three-day weekend session would require a
student wishing to carry a full 15 hour load to attend classes for
four hours each of three days. A 12-hour teaching load would re-
quire an instructor to teach for three hours and 20 minutes per day
in four 50-minute classes. See Table If, below.

TABLE UW
AN EXAMPLE OF A THREE-DAY ACADEMIC WEEKFND
FOR FACULTY CARRYING A 12-HOUR TEACHING LOAD

Time Block Friday Saturday Sunday
1. 8:00- 8:50 am.
2. 9:00- 9:50 am.
3. 10:00-10:50 a.m.
4. 11:00-11:50 a.m.
5. 12:00-12:50 p.m.
6. 1:00- 1:50 p.m. Class Class Class
Al A2 A3
7. 2:00- 2:50 p.m. Class Class Class
Bi B2 B3
8. 3:00- 3:50 p.m.
9. 4:00- 4:50 p.m.
10. 5:00- 5:50 p.m.
11. 6:00- 6:50 p.m.
12. 7:00- 7:50 p.m. Class Class Class
cl C2 C3
13. 8:00- 8:50 p.m. Class Class _ Class
Di D2 D3
14. 9:00- 9:59 pan. CowT'd