The United States of America lags behind other countries in every category, including economics, technology, and, most importantly, education. America is a growing country, and without leaders to govern it in the future, it will continue to regress compared to other countries. America should extend the school days and years to educate the future leaders of America and the world and save our country from certain ruin. Education is one of the most important aspects of today's society. We as a society need educated youth to lead our country in the future. With greater dependence on technology and science, society needs more scientists and engineers to maintain and develop these tools. We must address major economic and environmental issues, support the poor and defend human rights abroad. To continue these operations in the future, we need educated youth today. Without an adequate education system, we will never have enough scientists or engineers to support our country and we will fall further behind other world powers. America is now ranked 24th in science and 25th in math among developed countries, up from 14th in science and 18th in math just 14 years ago (Sources 3 and 8). This downward trend will continue if we do nothing about it. Most people recognize this huge problem and have proposed many solutions. Some people recommend hiring better teachers, while others recommend increasing the requirements to become a teacher. Another proposed solution is to abolish homework, as in Finland or Japan, and some believe that a change in the curriculum to emphasize science, mathematics, engineering and mathematics (STEM) could solve our problems. The best solution proposed and the most meritorious one is to extend school hours and...... middle of paper...... icular sport. They must also be aware of the needs of other students and their families, who could benefit greatly from the curriculum change. These other families could save on child care or day care and not have to worry about their children getting into trouble. As we can see, the benefits of the extended program clearly outweigh the potential problems caused by it. In summary, the American education system lags behind that of other developed countries. We as a society must solve this problem by extending the school day and year to give our students equal footing with the rest of the students in the civilized world. Implementing this new school schedule has the benefits of ensuring children's safety, giving students and teachers more time to learn and teach, and reducing summer learning losses. This new plan has the potential to change America forever for the better.