Obama to Kids: Stay In School...All Year
"The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.
"Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press."
So there are several items here:
- longer school year
- longer school day
- the building staying open longer after the school day ends
- the building being open on weekends presumably with enrichment/fun activities
Data from the article:
"Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in other nations have more school.
"Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here," Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing field."
While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's not true they all spend more time in school.
Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests - Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days)." (bold mine)"
The article continues with information about a longer day. This is pertinent to our discussions over the length of day for high schools. While it might seem odd to argue over 5-15 minutes in a day, remember - add them all up and it becomes hours and then days.
"Regardless, there is a strong case for adding time to the school day.
Researcher Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution looked at math scores in countries that added math instruction time. Scores rose significantly, especially in countries that added minutes to the day, rather than days to the year.
"Ten minutes sounds trivial to a school day, but don't forget, these math periods in the U.S. average 45 minutes," Loveless said. "Percentage-wise, that's a pretty healthy increase."
However:"Extra time is not cheap. The Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15 percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature last year."
Our Legislature doesn't even fully fund education in our state. How are we do get them to pay to add more time to the day or extra open hours at the schools?
Arne Duncan did say one thing that did bother me:
"Those hours from 3 o'clock to 7 o'clock are times of high anxiety for parents," Duncan said. "They want their children safe. Families are working one and two and three jobs now to make ends meet and to keep food on the table."
I get that, certainly. There are "community schools" evolving all around the country either as an adjunct to regular community centers or instead of a community center. But I really worry about a model where a child could show up for daycare at 7 a.m. and not go home until 7 or 8 p.m. It turns the government into a nanny and I worry about kids becoming dependent on other adults as caregivers.
Maybe I'm being naive and a 7 a.m. drop-off and 7 p.m. pick-up is the norm for working parents (I don't currently work outside the home). And, I have no idea how many parents would enroll their kids in such a system. How would it work for middle-schoolers who tend to be more mobile and likely to refuse to hang at school 5 days a week?
Comments
http://www.seattleymca.org/page.cfm?ID=printSchedule&locationID=4&catID=6
and it would appear that those are the hours for before school/after school Y programs at Thurgood Marshall, Lowell, and Bailey Gatzert, currently. This suggests to me that indeed, there is a population of kids already in the school building (at least at the elementary level) for those hours.
Saturday? I'd say no, unless it's for field trips and activities that expand upon what was learned during the week. This could also serve as a day where more parents would have a chance to come to school. Lots of kids spend Saturdays at dance, sports, etc. but not all families can afford these activities. If a community school offered these options, it would create a more supportive environment and balance out the increased rigor being called for.
All of these great things which close the circle on learning cost money, which leads me to ask Arne, "How?"
I'd support a community school.
The biggest drawback for me was that I never had any contact with the school. There was no opportunity to check in with teachers or meet other parents or just get a feel for the culture of the school. Another drawback was that the before and after school program was not at their school so the girls had a long bus ride and I often picked them up just as they were getting off the bus so they felt cheated out of an opportunity to play. The benefits were that there were kids to play with (there are none in our neighborhood) and my girls really enjoyed the councilors who had plenty of energy and attention to give them (as opposed to a tired mom trying to get dinner ready).
These programs regularly fill up and once the new SAP reduces bus options for a lot of families who relied on it to give them an extra 30-40 minutes in the morning, I expect we will see a lot more need for before school care in the K-5s and after school care in the K-8s.
My nephew has year round school in Hawaii and my brother says its way better than trying to find summer care options, plus there are more options for vacation than two weeks at Christmas and 10 weeks in the summer.
The "Greatest Generation" got that way without summer school, so what's our problem?
Simple Answer: Quality, not quantity.
Obama's being fairly self-centered (as are many people of power.) Just because his mother was obsessed with his education, doesn't mean I want my kids to be that way.
And, oh yeah, exactly how would we pay for the extra days in the year? Where's the money going to come from for that?
Most of us are scrambling for our kids not to sit in front of the TV, Facebook or video games all summer long. Our kids are BORED.
Yes, the kids would grumble. But guess what, if the whole country was doing it? They'd get over it -uber- quickly.
As a side note, the hours of instruction argument (the US vs China) is a bit of a red herring. Our kids spend a lot of the school day in ridiculous electives - the "easy A's" that boost GPA's. How much time are they getting in actual math or reading instruction?
I'd love to see a study that shows children lose academically by being in year-round school.
As for the longer school day, I'm torn. As it is, we're scrambling to fit everything into the day. We'd end up eating a lot later. But if their overall academic and social well-being are better, I'm willing to sacrifice my schedule.
I want my kids to have summer vacation. I want my kids to have time after school to play at the park, make friends in our neighborhood, play on a sports team, visit their grandparents, do their homework.
School is only one part of a child's life. It should not be all encompassing. What would the typical child have to give up if he went to school from 7A-7P??
I wonder if kids would get burned out on school?? Would the drop out rates sky rocket?
Perhaps some extended day, or year round option schools for parents that seek them. But if it were mandated I would run, not walk, away from public school.
My son has an ear for language but, of course, can only sign up for after-school classes and then only for languages that happen to be offered that quarter; he loves robotics and animation and chess but, of course, can't get those in school. Sports in elementary school? Try gym for 4 days a week every three weeks . . . no elementary sports offered.
Let's add hour-long bus rides to the equation and our kids will not have time to be kids. Play with friends? See a movie? Just relax for a minute? Not possible.
stu
Dont make schools/after school care the mechanism to keep people on the wheel... get back to making family and community the centrepiece of our society...
Kids need down time...
Kids in other countries dont have the three months off, but in NZ and Australia they have six weeks off at Christmas/summer... the year is evenly divided into four quarters/two semesters with one and 2-week breaks separating them... school day isnt any longer... works much better...
In other (high performing countries), kids go to school more days, but their school days are shorter...
Education is not, by definition, job training, but our Board, Sup, Secretary of Education, and President, don't get that. It's all about future Microsoft workers, says Michael DeBell and his ilk.
Uh, sorry, no it's not. Education is not an apprenticeship for Microsoft, and I don't want it to be. Look how unhealthy our children have become, with exploding rates of obesity and childhood illnesses, much of which is directly correlated with kids sitting on their butts in front of machines all day.
No thank you. Not for my kids. I want them to understand their natural world by actually walking through it and playing in it. Not by googling or reading a wiki about it.
My kids will not have Facebook pages; they will play with friends instead, in person, in unstructured settings where they make up their own rules.
Summer is our time to do most of that, and a nice break from the doldrums of mandatory, institutionalized schooling. Anyone who wants summer school can have it, and can pay for it.
"Simple Answer: Quality, not quantity. "
I strongly reject the false dichotomy.
The answer is more complex. Quality and quantity must both be delivered in an effective balance.
http://www.ourglobaleducation.com/2009/09/note-from-broad-foundation.html