4 countries where kids spend fewer days in classrooms than in the US

According to the Center for Public Education, US public schools require students to be in the classroom between 175 to 180 days a year. That breaks down to somewhere in the ballpark of 900 to 1,000 hours, depending on what state you live in. Currently, 35 states in the US require at least 990 hours of educational learning. So, as a rough estimate, US public school students spend about half of their year in the classroom.

Additionally, the typical first-grader will seven roughly seven hours a day learning, according to The Washington Post.

How does that stack up against other school children around the globe? American students are known for spending less time in the classroom than most of their counterparts in China, India, and other countries. A 2017 Pew Research Center poll found that the US still falls behind other countries in terms of reading, math, and science scores.

It's worth noting that since each state has different requirements for class time in the US, and some countries don't have this information readily available. With that in mind, these four countries have more time off from school than the US on average.

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In Russia, students get out at 1 or 2 p.m.

According to the Pew Research Center, Russian primary school students (also referred to as elementary school in the US) spend 470 hours in the classroom during the school year. That's a little more than half of the 990 hours that US elementary students spend in school. Further, the least amount of time Russian students get for vacation annually is four months. Students in Russia attend school five days a week and usually get started around 8 a.m. and end around 1 or 2 p.m, according to Just Landed. 

Although Russian schoolchildren are spending the least amount of time in the classroom compared to other countries, it doesn't mean they are learning less. According to the US Central Intelligence Agency, 99.7% of people ages 15 and older can read and write in Russia.

 

 

In Finland, children get a 15-minute break every 45 minutes.

In Finland, school officials believe that less is more. According to the HuffPost, children attend school between 8 and 9 a.m. each day and finish around 1 to 2 p.m. For every 45 minutes of learning, the children get a 15-minute break. This equates to an average of three hours and 45 minutes of educational instruction each day. In the US, children spend roughly 6.5 hours a day in the classroom.

School officials in Finland may be on to something, though. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that Finnish students ranked number two amongst other countries in reading, math, and science, according to The Guardian.

Icelandic students attend school 170 days of the year.

Icelandic students attend school 170 days out of the year, according to State University. That's not much less than American students, but it does make a dent in the overall time spent learning. Students attend class five days a week.

Icelandic students landed in the 13th spot for reading, math, and science when compared to 64 other countries worldwide, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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