European here, I went to school from 8:20 till 16:05. You guys really have school starting at 10:00?
Who takes care of the kids after parents go to work and before school starts?
In the US, it's common for schools to start at 8:00 or even 7:30. Recently there has been a push to start later to give kids more time to sleep. So pushing it back to say 8:30 or 9:00 (but not shortening the day, so basically everything just gets pushed back, and the kids stay up later, and need more time to sleep...).
The reason is purely practical- start times need to be staggered to allow schools to share buses, and having high school students get home first means they can look after their younger siblings until their parents get home from work.
Elementary school, 8am - 2pm
Middle school, 9am - 3 something (3:20pm, I think?)
High school, 7:40am - 2:55pm
It’s completely ridiculous, especially considering how sane many (most?) countries in the rest of the world have it.
Granted, even if they were on 2 income households in the 70's, it was also a time where 10YO's were trusted to get home or even walk home unattended, so it'd only be an issue for the youngest primary students. That may still be the case in some Asian countries today, but certainly not in the US.
For secondary school you can elect to have early and late classes or simply opt out of a period if you have the curriculum met. but I've never heard of a student starting later than 9.
>Who takes care of the kids after parents go to work and before school starts?
that's generally why primary students start earlier than secondary students. By high school it's no big deal if the student is by themselves getting ready to leave at 8:30 if the parents need to take off at 8.