Obama Seeks to Lengthen School Year

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Obama Seeks to Lengthen School Year

Interesting. What do you think?

Comments

Chad said…
I have mixed feelings. I definitely don't support an additional 300 hours per year. What exactly would the additional time be spent on?

I think there are shortcomings in our education system, but I think those shortcomings are mainly due to lack of parental involvement. I also think that federal fingers in the mix causes problems. Specifically, I bet a lot of kids don't have encouragement to do well, and spend their home time playing video games and ignoring homework. I think that no child left behind discourages creative learning.

My belief is that education should be regulated at the state level, with most of the control being in the school districts themselves.

Another question: Who's going to pay for it? And what teacher is going to work 12 hours / day at school (let alone the time they work at home).
29 September, 2009 15:43
Gramps said…
My first choice would be to have them quit wasting the time the kids put in now, but I'm in favor of a longer school year (and along with that higher teacher salaries) and fewer "fluff" classes as the kids get into high school (says one guilty of taking fly fishing and cooking). Fact: US students *are* falling behind other countries in math & science and we should do something about that.
29 September, 2009 16:41
Cambrienelson said…
I think that most kids in our realm are overscheduled. I think, however, that there are kids out there without parental involvement in their lives who are underscheduled. I would be a fan of things like piano lessons and soccer practice counting as school and in that case adding to the school year. I think that gradeschool kids' days are long enough and need more play time.
29 September, 2009 19:06
Christa said…
I do think school days are long enough. Benjamin doesn't get home until 4 pm, and then he has to do his homework, violin practice, soccer practice (once a week), dinner, etc-- he frequently has no time left over to play. But I also think that 3 months of summer is excessive. Kids forget so much over the summer. I don't think it would be so bad to extend the school year.
29 September, 2009 21:59
Gramps said…
Ditto...I'm not really a fan of extending the school day, but I am of shortening the summer break.
30 September, 2009 07:10
Erica said…
As long as kids have enough time to play, I'm fine with extending the school year a LITTLE bit. I am definitely not in favor of extending the school day. Focus should be put on helping parents get involved and see the vision of how their involvement can really help their child.

On a side note, I am uncomfortable with Obama getting involved with every little detail of our lives. Education should not be run at the federal level, but at the state/district level.
30 September, 2009 11:32
Katie Groneman said…
Kids in school get way squirrelly - if they had to sit in a class for another 15min. it would probably kill them. Believe me, I know. And teachers get squirrelly too. If I had to stay there longer than I normally do, I wouldn't get to see Brett before he goes to work.
30 September, 2009 17:38
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