Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is safe to say that many children who live in poverty would benefit greatly from a longer school day/year.
I taught many students during my 37 year career who would have been better off if they had been completely removed from their homes - a longer school day/year for them would have been a second best solution for the problems that plagued them.
I am sure that the NEA agrees with you but for different reasons than you provide. Hear the video I put up some time ago and tell me that the union is really worried about what is best for children.
It would be a great use of resource if our schools were open longer for all sorts of things that kids could take advantage of if they want. I'm also a supporter of year round school. Let's face it, there is no need for a long summer vacation and the only thing people can say about it is that it give them time to go on vacation...but unless jobs also give you the entire summer off we are really only talking about a few weeks at most. Year round schooling can give you a few weeks, several times a year. It's long overdo and there is no good reason why we aren't doing it except we always get stuck doing things "the way they have always been done" and change is scary.
Do you know about the move to 4 days per week to save money in my part of the world? Every year some more schools go to 4 days so they don't have to use electricity and heat on Friday. It is the sh*ts for teachers but kids don't mind getting that extra day. I know this because my wife's school district did just that last year and they think it saved them money. Does this make it obvious that money is the main thing to school boards? It sure does to me.
Education should be the one thing that money shouldn't be a problem coming up with.
I'm not saying we can't be smart about what we are spending, but when science, and actual real life proves that year round school is more beneficial than the system we have now, money shouldn't be the factor that stops it.
Well, for high school kids doing sports in-season, yes, they are at school for a large portion of their waking hours. Same with kids doing theater when a play is being rehersed. That's not what the articles I have read talked about; they talked about having the library open, and/or the gym open after hours.
After hours in our one gym high school is well after 8:00 pm. They rotate the boys and girls teams one beginning at 4:00 to 6 and the other going from 6 - 8 during basketball season. I guess those kids who could be playing could do so in the halls, but I know what they would be doing and it isn't constructive play.
During volleyball season they practice till at least 6:00 and do extra work after practice.
I guess we can't allow that kind of stuff in small schools. Even our junior high teams have to practice in their gyms the same way.
"Conspiracy theory?" I'm afraid I don't understand. There really is nothing conspiratorial about it. Its all out in the open. For example, on the "Students for Obama" or I believe its now called "Students for America" internship application form passed out at some schools, I saw Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" recommended. It wasn't in code. It was plainly printed for all to see. Another example is the book called, "Que*ring Elementary Education," with a foreward by Kevin Jennings our school czar. This is a published book, with a pretty straightforward title that describes it's intent, which includes a chapter on "unstraightening the thinking" of elementary school children. This isn't a secret document. It is a well written, published book promoting the desire to change the thinking of school children. Finally, I wouldn't call it a secret conspiracy when I asked a teacher at my child's school, why the class was reading a book with so much graphic violence in it and I was told by the teacher that the book was chosen to help dissuade students from following in their fathers' footsteps and joining the military by enlightening them into the realities of warfare.
Like it or not, schoolchildren will be indoctrinated. Young minds are impressionable. Its no secret. No one is whispering.
Too many of our people here are too old to have read anything about the communist movement in our colleges during the 20s and 30s and beginning again by 1960. I studied quite a bit about communism while in college (1950 - 1954) for history and government classes and just to learn a bit more about the communist threat of the period. I know that they want to get kids as young as they can and college freshmen were considered very easy targets. Now they know that the Spartans were right when they took the boys from their mothers at age 7 and made them into good little soldiers. The lefties here will continue to fight understanding all this until they see that we have already raised a whole generation of lefties from what is being taught in the schools. I am so glad that they kicked me out of the field before it really reached our part of the world.
That book you talk about is a perfect example of what they are doing. Also, I remember Miss Jean Brody and thinking that she was so right about getting them as young as possible.
Im all for extended school day hours ( 8 - 4 or 5) and year round schedules (3 weeks on, 1 week off and/or only 1 month vacation during the summer to do the "family trips" or what not).
And who says that its all instructional stuff during the day; kids can learn about the core curriculum but also work in social and every day life skills (like budgeting, working with others, peer teaching, art, music, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, so on a so forth)
I went to school and participated in after school programs at the Y. During my middle school years I regularly participated in club functions, theater, and took advanced placement courses
In by the time i was a freshman, I was taking AP courses, was college qualified and only needed the core credits to graduate. I could have graduated in my junior year, but knew I wasn't socially ready to take on college.
All because of the EXTRA education, and continuous courses I took.
I graduated with 64 credits; 22 was all that was needed.
--- Also, keeping the schools open (buildings like the Counselor office, library and gym) would be beneficial as we see states slowly cutting BACK hours on public libraries.
It would be a great use of resource if our schools were open longer for all sorts of things that kids could take advantage of if they want. I'm also a supporter of year round school. Let's face it, there is no need for a long summer vacation and the only thing people can say about it is that it give them time to go on vacation...but unless jobs also give you the entire summer off we are really only talking about a few weeks at most. Year round schooling can give you a few weeks, several times a year. It's long overdo and there is no good reason why we aren't doing it except we always get stuck doing things "the way they have always been done" and change is scary.
In many cities they utilize the hell out of their buildings but they do it by having staggered ten month years so they have room to have all their kids get a chance to go to overcrowded buildings. Having the vacation period at staggered times allows the districts to not have to build new facilities faster than they can do it.
I always wondered how I would like that staggered system when I was coaching basketball because some of the boys wouldn't be in school part of the season. The same thing happened for me when I was coaching girls track. I wouldn't mind it so much in girls track because girls work harder than boys without being ridden to do it. They would come to practice even when they weren't in school.
OK, now I have pointed out two things that would cause trouble. Let me also add that back in the 70s and 80s our state activity association made us do some studies about the effect of athletics on the kids. Every time they learned that the athletes made better average grades than the non-athletes except for may music and forensics students. At any rate, they proved over and over again that it always worked out that way.
One very interesting study they did concerned time out of school for competition and the music people were very surprised to learn that their kids missed more total time than any of the athletes. Of course, we counted all the hours all the kids were out for contests and the like. Total time was unbelievable. I was the activities director and coached only track during those years but I was one of the strongest supporters or music on the faculty.
Education should be the one thing that money shouldn't be a problem coming up with.
I'm not saying we can't be smart about what we are spending, but when science, and actual real life proves that year round school is more beneficial than the system we have now, money shouldn't be the factor that stops it.
Money should never be a factor in education but it is whether we like it or not.
You said science proves something there. What could that possibly be? I guess you meant something about kids forgetting all that knowledge. Maybe if they actually learned things they wouldn't forget them so soon. I am sorry but our schools just aren't as good as they were back in the days when teachers didn't come from left influenced teachers colleges and when they gave a damn about educating kids and not so much about when payday came around. I know a bit about this kind of stuff since I was in the first group and my wife who is in year 38 this year has seen it get worse as time goes along.
Oh yes, we have some excellent teachers now, in spite of what they have been told but most of them belong to the NEA for the reasons that the man said on that link I provided just for you. The union has done to them just what unions do to all workers. I quit when the NEA admitted to being a union because they were being eased out by the NFT.
Im all for extended school day hours ( 8 - 4 or 5) and year round schedules (3 weeks on, 1 week off and/or only 1 month vacation during the summer to do the "family trips" or what not).
And who says that its all instructional stuff during the day; kids can learn about the core curriculum but also work in social and every day life skills (like budgeting, working with others, peer teaching, art, music, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, so on a so forth)
I went to school and participated in after school programs at the Y. During my middle school years I regularly participated in club functions, theater, and took advanced placement courses
In by the time i was a freshman, I was taking AP courses, was college qualified and only needed the core credits to graduate. I could have graduated in my junior year, but knew I wasn't socially ready to take on college.
All because of the EXTRA education, and continuous courses I took.
I graduated with 64 credits; 22 was all that was needed.
--- Also, keeping the schools open (buildings like the Counselor office, library and gym) would be beneficial as we see states slowly cutting BACK hours on public libraries.
Wow, 64 credits when only 22 were needed. Somehow I wonder if you got a credit for a two week course for basketweaving, and like that.
Really, I wonder if any of you progs really know about money for education. I think that most of you don't but maybe Obama has a special stash to take care of that.
I graduated from high school at 17 and never did have any problem with social things because I was so young. Maybe back in the day kids were different, though. I didn't make really good grades in either high school or college but it got better with the passage of time so maybe I was too young to go to college at 17.
"Conspiracy theory?" I'm afraid I don't understand. There really is nothing conspiratorial about it. Its all out in the open. For example, on the "Students for Obama" or I believe its now called "Students for America" internship application form passed out at some schools, I saw Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" recommended. It wasn't in code. It was plainly printed for all to see. Another example is the book called, "Que*ring Elementary Education," with a foreward by Kevin Jennings our school czar. This is a published book, with a pretty straightforward title that describes it's intent, which includes a chapter on "unstraightening the thinking" of elementary school children. This isn't a secret document. It is a well written, published book promoting the desire to change the thinking of school children. Finally, I wouldn't call it a secret conspiracy when I asked a teacher at my child's school, why the class was reading a book with so much graphic violence in it and I was told by the teacher that the book was chosen to help dissuade students from following in their fathers' footsteps and joining the military by enlightening them into the realities of warfare.
Like it or not, schoolchildren will be indoctrinated. Young minds are impressionable. Its no secret. No one is whispering.
I noticed that you didn't get a reply to that post that followed Mem1979 calling this left leaning crap a conspiracy theory. You won't either, because
you made too good an argument about how it is easily proved to be going on. It is there and today while doing some reading for this thread I read an article about the federal government coming up with a pile of money that California needs so they are going after it in their math teaching methods as will all others. One more toe wiggled into the door to get at federal control of education from the ground up. Don't let them scare you into giving to them. I will always be around to help with links and personal knowledge.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
