Advocating for After School Programs for our Urban Youth
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What Happens After School?
Most Middle and High Schools in
the United States end their school day anywhere from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30
p.m. Regular working days for Americans end between 4:30 p.m. and
5:30 p.m. With a traveling commute home and varying amounts of
traffic, many parents do not arrive home until 6:00 p.m. or
later. Thus, many of our youth are unsupervised and subsequently
pressured to partake in activities that are counterproductive.
The Afterschool Alliance finds that 25% of youth care for themselves in
the afternoon (Afterschool).
Research has also shown that much
of this time is spent in an unconstructive manner:
- Unsupervised teen girls are 37% more likely to become pregnant (USDE, 2002)
- Youth are especially susceptible to gang recruitment during these hours (Christenson et al., 2000)
- primetime for
teen deaths caused by car accidents (Making
the case, 2006)
- 50% of children report watching three or more hours of
television and 30% of children four or more hours (Shann, 2001)
- 33% of children surveyed say they don't read at all (Shann, 2001)
- Peak hours for students to get hooked on cigarettes and other drugs (Fight Crime)
