No Stupid Questions

They don't even have enough money to properly pay their teachers for the mornings in school. Where would they get the people and money to pay them to supervise the kids in the afternoon?

In the USA, work doesn't end at 5, and there's always homework. That's where your proposal goes wrong.

That wouldn't change the length of the school day, just shift it (from 7 to 3), so I don't know why you would eliminate homework for that. The big problem would be for after-school activities, especially outdoor activities that need daylight.

A couple reasons off the top of my head, 1.) You can't let 20-30 kids loose without it ending in pandemonium, but you need kids to practice time management skills before college. Homework is a time where kids can learn to manage a workload, outside of the controlled environment of school. 2) Kids can't candle a 9 to 5, they need recess and art, and music, and gym to give their brains a break. In the 7.5ish hours that kids go to school, there's probably only 4 hours of work done. (but Bob, I only work like 30 minutes of any given day, and I'm an adult...)

School in the US is designed to indoctrinate kids to be slaves.

"Why no 9 to 5 school week simulation for students"

My first guess is: because kids are much more likely to rebel and destroy stuff than adults whose income depend entirely on them keeping their heads down. But what Senshi posted earlier in this topic is crucial, too, it is possible to keep kids inside schools for longer times without them wanting to destroy everything.

In Germany some schools offer exactly that in day schoolGanztagsschule.

In theory students get time to do homework in a dedicated hour and the last hours are filled with extracurricular activities.

But often times teachers assign too much homework and there‘s always at least one day when you have maths other sth else in the late afternoon, what‘s hell for everyone involved.

I wouldn‘t send my children there, but there are families who are thankful for this system and children who are capable to live an 8-4 day.

Because most young people require more instruction than simply hearing the lesson taught once and never actually applying the knowledge to the assigned homework. Repetition is what creates neural pathways, and eliminating homework would be disastrous for any school board. But yeah, the day itself should probably reflect times people are generally expected to be working. It would condition students to expect those kinds of working hours as they get older, and it would help families synchronize their schedules.

I always thought the reason school days go from 7-3 or 8-4 (or whatever) is usually more about bus scheduling and logistics. And high schools historically start earliest (despite it being worse for teens) so older siblings will be home and can watch younger siblings after school.

Maybe that’s just what I was told growing up but if every school did 9-5, they would need more bus drivers.