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.
The current schedule for a school year was based on when the economy of this country was based on manual labor used for agriculture. To suggest we should keep the same schedule simply because “It worked before” is the equivalent of using a horse and buggy on an interstate highway.
Like it or not, long summer vacations are part of our current culture. Seems you'd have to come up with some pretty compelling evidence it would solve current educational problems. I don't see that you've made a case. Suggesting we alter our schedule because "Asia (or whichever country you feel we should emulate) does it" doesn't cut it.
Most kids in year round schools and their parents like the schedule. That is based on conversations with people whose kids were in year round schools. Most teachers like it, too, once they try it.
What we need to do is cut out the unnecessary things like gym,sports teams, and art classes then students will begin to learn with 6 hours in the school day.
I disagree. All is needed to keep a child's mind and be academically sound. Music and ART are actually quite helpful to kids, who may have a hard time understanding math and science.
I was a visual learner, meaning I had to see things and visualize how it would work. I took a lot of art classes and music classes and by doing so, it helped me greatly in math and science. I got to do college level Calculus in 10th grade because of having art and music as a background
Sports and PE is needed to keep our students, physically active. Have you seen how many overweight children there are?
Obama presses for longer school years - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100927/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama - broken link)
"We have got to identify teachers who are doing well. Teachers who are not doing well, we have got to give them the support and the training to do well. And if some teachers aren't doing a good job, they've got to go," Obama said.
Now the Republicans are going to whine that Obama wants to further educate the kids. Wah wah!!
I can hear the whining already. Music to my ears.
I believe a longer school year would be very beneficial as our students are falling behind their peers around the globe. It could be economically undoable, though.
Please let me offer you this financial aspect from my community:
The median teacher's salary in my school district is almost $100,000.00
Yes. One hundred thousand. Their contract is for 184 days of work.
Don't forget they get retirement, excellent health and dental insurance.
Most do a good job because they love their work, love the students. The rest are there for the paycheck and are counting the days until retirement.
Figure there's 104 weekend days in a year. That brings the total number of weekdays to 261. Deduct the current contract and we have 77 days. Of those 77 days, lest set aside 20 as holidays, conference days and two weeks break; that brings us to 57 potential additional days or a 31% increase in work days. Will those $100,000.00 teachers be willing to earn the same $100K for a 241 day school year, or will they be demanding a $31K increase?
Currently, my school taxes make up 67% of my property tax bill. The school portion alone is just shy of $7,000 a year. Increasing the school year under those circumstances could be financially ruinous to the elderly and working poor in the community.
They aren't taking away from the more important things, just strengthening them. If you can't understand that concept then I can't help you.
So doodling on a piece of paper in high school art class strengthens my ability to do calculus?most of the time,in those extra ciriculum classes students just sat around and gossiped,told jokes,you know "played around".
So doodling on a piece of paper in high school art class strengthens my ability to do calculus?most of the time,in those extra ciriculum classes students just sat around and gossiped,told jokes,you know "played around".
I don't know about art and calculus, but I do know there's a strong correlation between math and music, as composing music is, when you get down to it, mathematical.
Don't belittle art class by calling it "doodling". If you did not make good use of your time in electives, so be it. That is not everyone's experience.
You completely miss the picture. The name of the game is ECONOMIC GROWTH. Both China and India have economic growth rates that are significantly higher than the United States and have been for the better part of the last decade. The result of economic growth in addition to the rising incomes in these countries IS MORE FOREIGN INVESTMENT. Capital that is allowed freely tends to flow where there is the greatest rate of return given an investor's risk tolerance. Investment dollars that used to flow to the United States are now flowing to India and China. Their middle class is EXPANDING our middle class is CONTRACTING. Both countries are also making significant infrastructure expenditures. Which means investment and JOBS that used to go the United States are now going to China and India.
Also the Chinese educational system is geared toward preparing students for a market economy. The Chinese government is focused on economic growth and raising the income of its people. Why? A population with rising prosperity is much less likely to be concerned about the lack of individual freedom.
WIHS didn't completely miss the picture -- you dismissed the first part of his statement -- where we live, our school taxes are high. Unfunded mandates drive them up further. If we extended the school year to be competitive with the countries you've listed for the reasons you've given, we would have one large problem here -- the fact that parents would need pay more, further shrinking our middle class.
If you're plunking down $135 a week in school taxes, and are told to pay out an additional $42 a week for the increased school year, where does it come from? Chances are you're lucky to have a job, if you're a teacher or a cop here, you'll do OK. But if you're in the private sector, you haven't seen a raise in a while and that $42 is going to have to come from somewhere. How much more can people be asked to scale back?
Extending the school year by 17 days will not fix any problems and will not raise grade levels.
The US is already the top country with the most instructional hours..we have less days but MORE hours spent in school and data shows that grades have been going DOWN since the 80's.
It's not the hours in school that will fix declining scores.
DARE we hope this can be the one issue we will all find common ground on? Maybe?
Over the Summer months, kids lose so much of what they've learned. It wastes so much time to review at the beginning of the school year, and kids lose the opportunity to gain more knowledge.
Plus, think of how much it costs us as a society to pay for child care and activities when kids are off for 3 months, but parents still have to work.
If I said what I really wanted to say, I'd not be able to post for a few days ... so suffice it to say that your ideas and opinions are beyond absurd and ignorant.
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.
