180 days?

I picked the April blog from the best of Fischbowl titled 180 days. I watched the PowerPoint he had attached to this blog. It was interesting. The point he was trying to get across was that we don't give students near enough time in the classroom. He points out that we give so much testing and other activities. Activities such as speakers, pep rallies, and other such celebration take time away from academics. He goes through how much time each thing takes up. He even has some slides about student and teacher absences and how that can affect the class. He even goes as far as subtracting days before holidays when students aren't paying as much attention.
When you really sit and think about this it is so true. Students are excited before holidays and aren't paying attention. He subtracts days for reviewing and giving tests. He takes out the days we need to give final exams. He goes from the 180 days that we think we have to 120. That means that we waste a total of 60 days and we don't even realize it. I hadn't thought about the little things like speakers and pep rallies, all things students enjoy. No wonder schools want the year longer or are going to year round schooling. It makes you wonder about all those days we waste and what they could do to better our education.