don't know anything about the health one, but I'm half supporting the school one, half not.

For a world leading country we have god-awful education and it's only getting worse every year (as a whole, since obviously there are the high achieving A students in every class year). Kid are seriously getting dumber and more lazy with each graduating class. My mum is a teacher in high school and I just finished up college and saw it, every new year coming in is more idiotic than the last. There are kid even graduating from school (in part because of Bush's "no child left behind crap policy) who still can't write an essay properly.

Granted this means 1) more educational days and 2) (really more important that the first) better teachers. So many come in that can't teach to save their lives (even if they know their stuff) and let classrooms get out of control.

Countries such as Japan that have school all year around have far smarter children. Now, I'm not saying to go as crazy as they are, they have cram schools and all that sort that cause kids to have high anxieties and (from what I've heard) have a higher suicide rate amongst kids because off all the pressures (cram schools, having to take intense tests to get into better schools, etc), but having more educational day will hopefully help brighten the coming generations.