More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

[Vel]

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation
By LIBBY QUAID (AP) – 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.
Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

The Associated Press: More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation


I'm thinking that adding an extra three hours to the school day might just lose the Democrats a little support from the NEA.

 

[elvis]

Yeah I'd like the teachers' reactions. Echo, Annie.....

 

[blu]

kids should be in school more or all states should adopt california's rotating schedule. american kids are getting dumber and dumber, especially in math and science, and we already have a generation of really dumb parents and the next one is only going to be worse. other countries paren'ts put their kid's education as their highest priority instead of hollywood, sports, tv, and other stupid shit that american parents do

 

[bodecea]

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation
By LIBBY QUAID (AP) – 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.
Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

The Associated Press: More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation


I'm thinking that adding an extra three hours to the school day might just lose the Democrats a little support from the NEA.

I don't think it would...teachers have been saying for a long time that our school year is too short.

 

[Vel]

I know a few teachers and while I'm sure there are teachers out there that want a longer school year or a longer school day, no one that I know feels that way. Most of the teachers I know are simply tired of having to teach to the standardized tests.
MY personal opinion is that the federal government needs to disband the Dept. Of Education and turn things back over to the individual states.

 

[KittenKoder]

Meh ... I wouldn't mind, no more having to deal with other peoples brats on the streets of downtown in the middle of the day on nice days.

 

[dilloduck]

We could call it Obama's Boarding School !

 

[KittenKoder]

We could call it Obama's Boarding School !

He should pay for it anyway, because here's where I am a hypocrite, I don't want to pay more taxes for year round schools.

 

[Anti]

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation
By LIBBY QUAID (AP) – 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.
Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

The Associated Press: More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation


I'm thinking that adding an extra three hours to the school day might just lose the Democrats a little support from the NEA.

you mean the rest of the country does not have year round schools?

The town I live in has (to my knowledge) only one elementary and middle school that is NOT year round ...

What drives me nuts is the middle school - every Wednesday is early release and once a month is earlier release ... so much for a working parents need to be at work!

 

[random3434]

I know a few teachers and while I'm sure there are teachers out there that want a longer school year or a longer school day, no one that I know feels that way. Most of the teachers I know are simply tired of having to teach to the standardized tests.
MY personal opinion is that the federal government needs to disband the Dept. Of Education and turn things back over to the individual states.

Thank you Vel for that reasonable response.

This teacher doesn't want a longer day or longer year! We have after school tutoring for kids who need it, and the teachers who want to teach it sign up for it.

I agree about the Dept. of Ed, it needs to be fixed big time, or each state sets their own mandates. I am NOT a member of the Teachers Union by the way, there are many reasons for that too.

Something like this will be down the road anyway.............I hope!

 

[Polk]

I know a few teachers and while I'm sure there are teachers out there that want a longer school year or a longer school day, no one that I know feels that way. Most of the teachers I know are simply tired of having to teach to the standardized tests.
MY personal opinion is that the federal government needs to disband the Dept. Of Education and turn things back over to the individual states.

The states are the ones dropping the ball now.

 

[bodecea]

Most of the teachers I know, and I have quite a few in my family too, think a longer school year would be a good start because so much time has to be taken in the first months to review. Of course, teacher's get around two months per year UNPAID vacation...a longer year does mean more pay. Then many of those teachers I know who get summer jobs won't need to.

 

[Vel]

I know a few teachers and while I'm sure there are teachers out there that want a longer school year or a longer school day, no one that I know feels that way. Most of the teachers I know are simply tired of having to teach to the standardized tests.
MY personal opinion is that the federal government needs to disband the Dept. Of Education and turn things back over to the individual states.

The states are the ones dropping the ball now.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Polk]

Most of the teachers I know, and I have quite a few in my family too, think a longer school year would be a good start because so much time has to be taken in the first months to review. Of course, teacher's get around two months per year UNPAID vacation...a longer year does mean more pay. Then many of those teachers I know who get summer jobs won't need to.

To play devil's advocate, you could address the review issue somewhat by spreading the school year out, but keeping the number of days the same.

 

[Polk]

I know a few teachers and while I'm sure there are teachers out there that want a longer school year or a longer school day, no one that I know feels that way. Most of the teachers I know are simply tired of having to teach to the standardized tests.
MY personal opinion is that the federal government needs to disband the Dept. Of Education and turn things back over to the individual states.

The states are the ones dropping the ball now.

Care to elaborate?

Almost all education funding comes from state and local governments. Outside of special education requirements, pretty much everything is set at the state level. Even under NCLB, the tests are written by the individual states.

 

[Terry]

If this happens and I wouldn't doubt it a bit if there is a big increase in Home Schooling. Look shortly for the Federal Government to put some heavy mandates on home schooling to try and shut them down. Actually there has been an effort to do just that but more localized areas.

 

[Si modo]

I've been pondering this a bit and want to toss a few thoughts out. We need reform of some sort at both state and government levels - not a fan of the Department of Education to begin with. I think most can stiputlate some reform. I went to a public high school a while ago. I had the same time in school as the students have now but I know damn well that I got a far better prepatory education for college than the students do now.

As Bod said, we can't expect teachers to work longer hours and not get paid for it.

Why throw more money and more time in when it seems clear to me that the system got broken sometime ago. We educated our students better with the same time requirements.

This isn't a 'good old days' argument, either. Having experienced teaching college level, I know they are not prepared as well as I and most of my peers were.

Reform is far more efficient and better for our students, IMO.

 

[Polk]

If this happens and I wouldn't doubt it a bit if there is a big increase in Home Schooling. Look shortly for the Federal Government to put some heavy mandates on home schooling to try and shut them down. Actually there has been an effort to do just that but more localized areas.

One could make the argument that denying kids an education is a form of child abuse.

 

[Si modo]

If this happens and I wouldn't doubt it a bit if there is a big increase in Home Schooling. Look shortly for the Federal Government to put some heavy mandates on home schooling to try and shut them down. Actually there has been an effort to do just that but more localized areas.

One could make the argument that denying kids an education is a form of child abuse.

What on Earth does that mean?

 

[Terry]

If this happens and I wouldn't doubt it a bit if there is a big increase in Home Schooling. Look shortly for the Federal Government to put some heavy mandates on home schooling to try and shut them down. Actually there has been an effort to do just that but more localized areas.

One could make the argument that denying kids an education is a form of child abuse.

How is home schooling your child a form of child abuse? If the child being taught at home learning then show me the abuse? That has been tried in court and failed with many parents.