While the mission of public schools has expandedbeyond education to include social support andextra-curricular activities. the academic schedule haschanged little in more than a century.

　　Reclaiming the school day for academic instructionand escaping the timebound traditions of education are vital steps in the school-reformprocess, says a report released today by the National Education Commission on Time andLeaming.

　　The commission's report, titled "Prisoners of Time," calls the fixed clock and calendar inAmerican education a “fundamental design flaw" in desperate need of change. "Time shouldserve children instead of children serving time." the report says.

　　The two-year commission found that holding American students to "worldclass standards." willrequire more time for classroom instruction. "We have been asking the impossible of ourstudents-that they leam as muchas their foreign peers while spending half as much as in coreacademic subjects." it states.

　　The Commission compared the relationships between time and leaming in Japan. Germany, andthe United States and found that American students receive less than half the basic academicinstruction that Japanese andGerman students are provided. On average. American studentscan earn a high school diploma if they spend only 41 percent of their school time on academics,says the report.

　　American students spend an average of three hours a day on "core" academics such as Englishmath, science,and history. the commission found. Their report recommends offering aminimum of 5.5 hours of academics every school day.

　　The nine-member commission also recommends lengthening the school day beyond thetraditional six hours.

　　"If schools want to continue offering important activities outside the academic core, as well asserving as a hub for family and community services, they should keep school doors openlonger each day and each year." says John Hodge Jones, superintendent of schools inMurfreesboro, Tenn., and chairman of the commission.

　　The typical school year in American public schools is 180 days. Eleven states allow school yearsof 175 days or less, and only one state requires more than 180 day.

　　"For over a decade. education reform advocates have been working Feverishly to improve ourschools,” says Milton Goldberg. executive director of the commission. "But... if reform is totruly take hold, the six-hour, 180-day school year should be relegated (归属于) to museums-anexhibit from our education past."