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The Europeans may be socialists, but at least they have the cajones to tell little Johnny's mom and dad that he just isn't going to hack it at the university level and should look into acquiring a trade. If an American school made that recommendation, the parents would sue and protest until the bar was lowered far enough for little Johnny to follow the path his parents think is best.
Ha, the bar already has been lowered on the university level. I can't imagine how ANYONE could possibly fail out of college. I went to colleges in two states (Florida and NJ); both were well-regarded schools, both were easy as hell.
Large class sizes like 20-30 per class , bad teaching , lack of funding.....i went to Private School most of my life anyway....but my brothers haven't.
20-30 students is not a "large class size." There is no public school district in New Jersey (except maybe a tiny town like Avon-by-the-Sea or Beach Haven) that has 10-15 kids per class or anything like that. Who would even want a class size that small? Such small class sizes restrict socialization and provide less of a pool of friends. Every other generation did fine with 50 kids per class. Why? Because they had decent parents who instilled in them a sense of value in education rather than looking at school as a taxpayer-supported babysitting service where they transfer their parental duties to a public servant for 7 hours per day.
That NJ wants a longer school year is misleading as this was proposed by a single person, Bret Shundler, albeit, Education commissioner.
There is an assumption that longer contact with teachers, in all cases, has a linear correlation with what ? better students?, smarter students? higer test scores to use for NJEA ads?
A longer school day and many other creative tactics will surely help categorical groups of students. A longer school day or year is not a panacea and drawing conclusions from unique situations to apply to everyone is shortsighted althou8gh a growing social and political trend.
The great education juggernaut can't figure out a way to evaluate teachers let alone be allowed to embark on imprisoning our children.
Additional taxpayer cost for dubious value is not the path we should be taking. First, an evaluation of current time spent and outcome would need to be measured in some meaningful way to establish a baseline for future changes in the educational system. If found lacking, the current school curriculum and process would need to be improved. do you suppose the inefficiency of the current system will be improved by longer contact time????
The missing piece that is not addressed is how to motivate students to learn. Without motivation and passion all you have are test scores and higher taxes.
The hierarchical protective shield of tenure should to be removed in any case to ensure hi performance teacher competition.
Suggesting a longer school day and year be instituted to improve the quality of a student's education is no different than asking for more taxpayer money to be spent to provide a better education. We painfully know there is no infinite linear correlation to that theory.
The "bottom 50 percent" in that silly, biased, advertiser/subscription-driven NJ Monthly Magazine survey are still probably better than many of the top performing districts in a lot of other states.
I've never heard anyone comment that Washington Twp. (either one of them) has bad schools.
you're right. as someone who didn't grow up in NJ, I can assure you all, your "bad" public schools are still far better than many states' "average" public schools.
class sizes of 20-30? that's considered pretty good in some states!
They also conitnuously produce students that greatly exceed the education level of American students despite the fact that we spend significantly more per student than they do. We tend to view money as the all encompassing solution to fix problems, when sometimes all we need to do is take a step back and realize we may be on the wrong path. There is a reason that virtually the entire developed world educates their students that way, with America as the lone example of a different system rooted in the belief that "equality" needs to equal the same education for all with the same outcome.
The Europeans may be socialists, but at least they have the cajones to tell little Johnny's mom and dad that he just isn't going to hack it at the university level and should look into acquiring a trade. If an American school made that recommendation, the parents would sue and protest until the bar was lowered far enough for little Johnny to follow the path his parents think is best.
they also have longer school days (sometimes on saturday too) and shorter summer vacations. and they're lazy to boot, aren't they? free healthcare, 6 weeks vacation - why would we want to emulate that?
Where would towns come up with the money to extend the school day & year? Not just talking salaries but what it costs to keep a school open??
What about older schools that have no a/c?? Are the kids & teachers just going to roast inside when the temps get high??
I don't think they have totally thought this out
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When the air temperatures in the schools reach into the 90's, it is state law that the students must be sent home; extra days must be added for thisl just ike when it snows. And, the majority of NJ schools are old and therefore are NOT air conditioned! Plus, state school funding has already been cut to almost every district, towns will be forced to raise local taxes to pay for this bad dream. Where do these people come from? Nothing is free, and this will not be either.
Bill
When the air temperatures in the schools reach into the 90's, it is state law that the students must be sent home; extra days must be added for thisl just ike when it snows. And, the majority of NJ schools are old and therefore are NOT air conditioned! Plus, state school funding has already been cut to almost every district, towns will be forced to raise local taxes to pay for this bad dream. Where do these people come from? Nothing is free, and this will not be either.
Bill
Was not aware of that, you learn something new every day.
I think Brett is blowing hot air as it's as plain as the nose on my face this has not been thought out carefully.
I don't see it ever happening.
90 degrees is common place in most schools in June. While I know some sort of law exist children rarely get sent home. Maybe in suburban districts they do but urban schools just let the kids fry.
90 degrees is common place in most schools in June. While I know some sort of law exist children rarely get sent home. Maybe in suburban districts they do but urban schools just let the kids fry.
Well that is ridiculous....at that temperature they have the attention span of a gnat.
What about kids with asthma....heat & humidity (air quality) have a negative effect on them
Well that is ridiculous....at that temperature they have the attention span of a gnat.
What about kids with asthma....heat & humidity (air quality) have a negative effect on them
We never got sent home when I was in school, we didn't have air and I know we hit 90 degrees at some point! Our middle school here closed for a day a few years ago b/c of the heat.
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NJ wants????
