Obama pushes for longer school days, years

[Robert Snow]

The last three weeks of last school year, the kids watched videos and played around.

Make the year longer? They don't use what they have now!

Talk about a red herring! Regardless of how long the school year is, the last few weeks are always wasted. If the school year was increased, there would be more time for learning.

Some of the best-performing kids in our area are home-schooled kids...that go to school less than 2/3 of the time the others do....and they out-perform them lights out.

Exactly how do you know this to be true? BTW, I home schooled my children until the beginning of high school.

Try dealing with the issues, and forget about a talk show host I haven't listened to in over a year.

Just because you don't listen to Limbaugh doesn't mean many right-wingers don't. You may not know it, but you aren't the standard of right-wing behavior. Also, I think I have dealt with the issues, and I don't really care if you agree with me or not. In fact, I don't care if you ever agree with me. Just remember, everything I post is not directed at you.

 

[Spear]

The separation of education and state will eliminate this problem.

Schools should be private entities and parents should send their children to the school of their choice, not forced to send them to one based on school district boundary lines.

I honestly doubt it would be a good idea. There's something annoying when education fully becomes a business : private schools would select their students, and the best schools would be the most expensive and/or selective.

I'm from the mid class, i could afford this, and choose a good school. The poorest would let their kids in the cheapest schools, which would probably not be the easiest to study in a good environment.

I think " social mixity " at school is a good thing and must be kept.

 

[preachinjesus]

As a nation we have an obligation to help prepare the next generation. We often forget the United States has one of the most amazing public school systems in the world. Look at many of the other countries out there with public school systems. They test their children and begin moving them out of the best the schools at early ages. In America you can go from K-12 in public schools with an opportunity to change your world. That doesn't happen everywhere else. I'm a fan.

Why is extending the school year a bad thing? Give children more time around Christmas and maybe only a a month off in July or something. Let parents have the opportunity to take their kids on vacation as they choose and the children can catch up via electronic means.

The continuity of education and the ability of teachers to impact their students with more intentional times would be terrific. I hear a lot of bad mouthing of teachers, but I don't know any teachers who just collect a paycheck (that is a meager thing) and don't care about their students. Maybe you know someone, but I don't.

Of course the big thing we need is far more involved parents. In our church we push parents getting involved with their children and their education. If Christians really want to change the nation the first place we can start is by becoming intentionally involved in our public school systems. They are begging for people to help out. I'm not saying lead a Bible study in the cafeteria at lunch. I'm talking about home-room moms, helping with the things nobody else wants to do, working with the sports fields, etc. We can change this nation and that is a very grassroots thing to do!

 

[rbell]

Talk about a red herring! Regardless of how long the school year is, the last few weeks are always wasted. If the school year was increased, there would be more time for learning.

Umm...if the school is wasting time, and they want to add time...pointing out their wastefulness is not a red herring. It is quite pertinent to the discussion.

Why do they need "more time for learning" when they don't use what they have?

Exactly how do you know this to be true? BTW, I home schooled my children until the beginning of high school.

Here you go: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/30/home-schooling-outstanding-results-national-tests/

from the article:

The study included almost 12,000 home-school students from all 50 states who took three well-known standardized achievements tests — the California Achievement Test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Stanford Achievement Test — for the 2007-08 academic year. The students were drawn from 15 independent testing services, making it the most comprehensive home-school academic study to date.
The results reinforced previous home-school studies conducted over a period of 25 years.



Five areas of academic pursuit were measured. In reading, the average home-schooler scored at the 89th percentile; language, 84th percentile; math, 84th percentile; science, 86th percentile; and social studies, 84th percentile. In the core studies (reading, language and math), the average home-schooler scored at the 88th percentile.
The average public school student taking these standardized tests scored at the 50th percentile in each subject area.

Just because you don't listen to Limbaugh doesn't mean many right-wingers don't. You may not know it, but you aren't the standard of right-wing behavior. Also, I think I have dealt with the issues, and I don't really care if you agree with me or not. In fact, I don't care if you ever agree with me. Just remember, everything I post is not directed at you.

Sorry if I messed up your stereotype.

 

[Revmitchell]

More time in class will never make up for the mismanagement of our education system. Get the fed out of education

 

[KenH]

Get the fed out of education

Amen. Any government involvement at all should only be at the state level, and preferably, primarily at the local level.

 

[here now]

Alternative schools NOT longer days

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/200...ia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g12:r1:c0.344448:b28010788:z0


The key to making kids smarter is not more time in the classroom.. but better use of the classroom... END OF QUOTE BY TINYTIM.

True and one of the best ways to manage the classroom is to get rid of the students who are habitual discipline problems. We have students in our schools who go to alternative school rather than being suspended (and this is a good thing), and after they serve their time they go back to their regular school. The problem is that there are so many that do this ALL year and there is NO way that THEY can be educated properly bouncing back and forth between schools. And when they come back to their regular classrooms they are constantly creating disturbances thus interferring with the educational process of fellow students who ARE there to get an education. Solution: The offenders should get one chance to come back to their regular classroom, any problems after that they should have to remain at the alternative school with students that are like-minded.

So I say alternative schools not longer school days, if you want better educated children!

BTW: Our public schools go to school August 4rd thru May 28th, this year.

 

[just-want-peace]

Now this alternative school is what should be longer, not regular classes.
The offenders should get one chance to come back to their regular classroom, any problems after that they should have to remain at the alternative school with students that are like-minded.

Perhaps if this were 12mo., 6 days a week, (holidays included) 7AM-5PM, it wouldn't take a lot of intelligence for the copy-cat trouble makers to figure out the best deal; AND the real instigators wouldn't have but one chance (that year anyway) to straighten up, OR at least be out of everybody else's hair!

Love your idea!!!

Only problem , is that it makes the guilty instead of the innocent pay, and that just ain't fair in the liberal play book!

 

[billwald]

>Originally Posted by Robert Snow
>Talk about a red herring! Regardless of how long the school year is, the last few weeks are always wasted. If the school year was increased, there would be more time for learning.


>(Rbell)Umm...if the school is wasting time, and they want to add time...pointing out their wastefulness is not a red herring. It is quite pertinent to the discussion.

Gee, rbell, reminds me of a shop class 55 years ago . . . teacher said, "Don't cut right to the end of the tin snips because it will bend and breal the metal."

Stupid student, "Then why do they put ends on tin snips?" (he was stupid, not joking)."