Education Reform = Longer School Day/Year?

[NorthofAda]

Obama: 'We've let our grades slip' - White House- msnbc.com

I was just reading on MSN about Obama's announcement today regarding education reform.

One of the ideas being seriously considered is extending the length of the school year and the length of the school day. One option is the idea of year-round school.

I personally hate the whole idea. My kids are in school for 7 hours a day right now. Wisconsin has a short summer (weather-wise) as it is, and I would hate to think of spending any percentage of it cooped up in a classroom.

Year-round school would also throw a monkey wrench into the powwow season. My kids have had to miss school on occasion for powwows that occur just before or just after school lets out for the year, and I get all kinds of notes sent home about it.

So what do you think? Good idea? Bad? I think until the gov't can show that the hours CURRENTLY being spent in the classroom are being used efficiently there is no need to increase them. More hours don't necessarily make for better education.

[Dakota Mato]

I agree.
The idea of year round school I don't like at all. If the school days are extended there's really no time for students in highschool to work, sports, and drivers training would be really hard to fit in (not to mention it's HARD!!),time to hang out w/ friends would be hard, and church. Than there's doctor and dentist appointments.and stuff like that too.
Than the winter is way longer than my summer, so having to spend all day long day after day in a class room that don't have any ac (except a couple of fans circulating the air.) W/ like 20-28 other students would be misery
Wouldn't there be a lack of sleep too? cause people would be trying to fit their daily lives in w/ school.
Talk about your brain hurting from so much learning. haha

[legalstraight]

Ya know a while back one of those wife trading reality shows had on a family that home schooled- and they covered the same curriculum as the public schools in something like 2 1/2 hours a day.

And I know that when I did correspondence classes I could do whole semester of a college class in something like a week and a half or two weeks.

Just think about how much time is wasted at schools- taking attendance, announcements, and so forth. Unfortunately the real time consuming stuff is that dang 'group work'- which is actually closer to workin' in the real world than just doing homework.

And if you look oversees a lot of places have longer school days than we do, and sometimes go six days a week, and year round.

But, why do first graders have homework now? Explain that one to me.

[NorthofAda]

My first-grader has homework. Actually she had homework in kindergarten.

My fifth-grader has literally hours of homework most days, and it is often 9:00 or later before she is done. If she were at school later I'm not sure how she'd get her work done.

If I didn't have to work myself, I'd be up for the home schooling thing. I know others who do it and they do spend far less time while still accomplishing the same goals.