Or the:

Hotels, Resorts, Amusement Parks, The National Park and State Park systems, the RV folks, and camp grounds.

 

Will companies who normally shut down for maintenance work for a week or two at a time in the summer have to rethink when they close?

 

What will farm families do for labor with the kids in school?

 

True getting a great education is important as I have said many, many times but letting kids just be kids is just as important also!

 

I would assume that we're not talking about going to school 52 weeks a year. Many families take vacations on spring break and fall break. Having a shorter amount of time in the summer just means planning vacations with less of a vacation window.

 

I live in a farming community. However, I don't see any kids doing much farming in the summer.

 

Kids can be kids for MUCH of the time. They're kids at school. Let's now act as though school ruins their fun. Most of them love being at school. It may not be for academics, but for the social aspect that they get. They love school activities such as sporting events, homecoming games, clubs and organizations. Then they still have time on the weekend and in the evenings. Many kids are ready to come back after a month off in the summer.

 

I'm not content with where we are as a country as far as education stands right now. I don't know if this is the answer, but it might be. It's successful for other countries, so why not ours. Honestly, I'll tell you what I really thing needs to happen. We need to put a cap size of no more than 15 in ANY class at ANY grade level, if we are truly interested in education. I simply cannot meet the educational needs of 38 kids in my classroom...nor can I when it's 30. Only in classes where numbers are small can I work individually with students for more than 20 seconds at a time.

 

This would require huge changes. At least on the high school level, schools would have to be twice as big and you'd need twice as many teachers...unless you could find an interesting scheduling method.

 

I don't ever expect to see it happen. But I really do think that this would make teachers more effective.

Edited September 28, 200916 yr by True blue (and gold)

It's hard enough keeping kids attention now...it will be even worse with longer school days and fewer breaks.

38 kids in your class at one time?

What subject?

What school system?

 

Just curious but does any classroom room in Boone County or Kenton County have those kind of numbers in one class, at one time?

 

I don't think my daughter had anywhere close to those numbers in any class at NDA! Maybe 20/25 in a class!

 

I guess cleaning the toilets daily for three years at NDA to help pay for the tuition, was time well spent!

 

On the farming: My daughter's boyfriend family are farmers from Southern Ill and trust me both their boys work rather long and hard on their farm as did my daughter for most of the summer. They own and farm their 500 plus acres and farm another 1,000/1,100 acres, so they aren't weekend farmers. As my daughter told me "Dad I have never worked so hard in my life?!

38 kids in your class at one time?

What subject?

What school system?

 

Just curious but does any classroom room in Boone County or Kenton County have those kind of numbers in one class, at one time?

 

I don't think my daughter had anywhere close to those numbers in any class at NDA! Maybe 20/25 in a class!

 

I guess cleaning the toilets daily for three years at NDA to help pay for the tuition, was time well spent!

 

On the farming: My daughter's boyfriend family are farmers from Southern Ill and trust me both their boys work rather long and hard on their farm as did my daughter for most of the summer. They own and farm their 500 plus acres and farm another 1,000/1,100 acres, so they aren't weekend farmers. As my daughter told me "Dad I have never worked so hard in my life?!

 

Here are my class numbers:

 

Advanced Physics 18

Chemistry I 28 + 1 Advanced Ind Chem Lab

Chemistry II 16

Astronomy I 30 + 6 Astronomy II + 2 Advanced Ind Chem Lab

Physical Science 33 + 1 Astronomy II

Physical Science 32 + 3 Advanced Ind Chem Lab

 

I am pleased to actually have a planning period this year. I haven't had one in years, because I've given it up to be able to offer Chemistry II for our students.

 

The Advanced Lab students work at a lab station that is attached to my room through a door (left open and visible at all times for safety sake). The Astronomy II students have to complete all of their projects independently at computer stations in the chemistry lab attached to my room...again, door open and those computers/students visible at all times. However, those two groups almost NEVER get any of my daily attention. They email me questions/comments and concerns and turn in projects via email. The Chem lab students do perform demonstrations for my classes, so there is a little interaction there. Both classes, however, are mostly self driven and only exist because I as a teacher ASK for them to...because I know they benefit the interest and abilities of students that have asked for them.

 

However, the large numbers in the Physical Science classes are a concern. We have the same problem in all of our freshman Earth/Space Science classes, though I don't teach that this year.

 

In a small school, when class enrollment (all 9th grade, all 10th grade) changes drastically from one year to the next (say, an additional 30 kids), it hits class size hard. That's what has happened this year. There's usually one area every year that way.

 

I would say that any committment by a parent to provide for the education of their child, whether it be by earning tuition money, working with them in the evening one on one or instilling work ethic and a desire to learn, is certainly one of the best investments that a parent can make for a child. :thumb:

I have no problem with it. We have to find a way for our kids to perform as well as others around the world if they're going to compete in a global economy.

More practice time the praise Obama songs (see other thread).

 

Also, another payback to a major union. You have to love Chicago-style politics at a national level.

First let me say, I am NOT backing what Obama is proposing. I have had said for years that America needs to rethink the way the school year is.

 

And as I sit and read this about how hard it would be for teachers and kids to work longer. He is only proposing 10 minutes a day for Math and Science two areas where USA kids scores are lower than alot of our global partners.

 

As for the longer school year, I think having the month of June and July would be plenty to have off and probably still too much. I have had teachers tell me, that when kids come back from summer break they spend almost 2 weeks refreshing what they had the year before.

 

Plus why not work longer and harder. Almost every company in America this year has asked their employees that we have to work harder, smarter and do more with less. This is happening across the globe, so why not teach this to our kids now so they can be better for the global market when they get out of college.

 

And as for the Farm families, I live in a huge farming community and they do work hard, but it is not like it was years ago. Farming is using Technology to do more farming with less manpower. Hmmm isnt that what I just said every company is doing?

 

The facts are we all have to do more with less. So lets have more school and less summer.

More practice time the praise Obama songs (see other thread).

 

Also, another payback to a major union. You have to love Chicago-style politics at a national level.

 

So you can't see beyond the partisan lines to the issue at hand? :ohbrother:

First let me say, I am NOT backing what Obama is proposing. I have had said for years that America needs to rethink the way the school year is.

 

And as I sit and read this about how hard it would be for teachers and kids to work longer. He is only proposing 10 minutes a day for Math and Science two areas where USA kids scores are lower than alot of our global partners.

 

As for the longer school year, I think having the month of June and July would be plenty to have off and probably still too much. I have had teachers tell me, that when kids come back from summer break they spend almost 2 weeks refreshing what they had the year before.

 

Plus why not work longer and harder. Almost every company in America this year has asked their employees that we have to work harder, smarter and do more with less. This is happening across the globe, so why not teach this to our kids now so they can be better for the global market when they get out of college.

 

And as for the Farm families, I live in a huge farming community and they do work hard, but it is not like it was years ago. Farming is using Technology to do more farming with less manpower. Hmmm isnt that what I just said every company is doing?

 

The facts are we all have to do more with less. So lets have more school and less summer.

 

Nice post. You've made several good points here. Farming IS technology now. Our agricultural department uses a great deal of technology in their curriculum and teaching their students how to use those tools.

 

We do need to do more with education. No Child Left Behind has done more harm than good, IMO.

You all have heard my thoughts on education before, and it is more unpopular than Obama's plan.

 

I was going to school with 35+ kids in a classroom in California, and that was in the 70's and 80's.

I have no problem with it. We have to find a way for our kids to perform as well as others around the world if they're going to compete in a global economy.

 

I agree.

 

I think we should be asking why we still schedule education around an agrarian calendar when we don't have an agrarian economy. We should be asking what would make our education system more effective. To what extent is the long summer break an impediment to learning? Will students retain more, advance more quickly if breaks were more evenly spaced out? I would extend the question asking to curriculum and to addressing problems TB&G mentioned, like class size.

 

At the end of the day, though, is this feasible? We've built an institution around the summer break and I don't know that it can be broken. Not easily, at least. Perhaps needed reforms could be grandfathered in, but it would still be far off on the horizon.

I don't see many teachers in favor of longers days and classes in the summer.

 

What about the students? Parents? Bus drivers? Custodians? Lunchroom staff? Office staff?

 

Tough luck.

 

Some of us riff-raff have to work year-round....you can do it, too.

From the article....

 

"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."

 

Well over in the P & P thread, we have learned that the bolded is a VERY, VERY, VERY BAD thing.

 

The P&P debate come to mind for me when I read that too! :lol::lol:

If they want to improve performance, they need to change the quality of the programs, not quantitiy. Schools that are beating our socks off in math and science are spending less hours overall per year than the United States. Longer days/years are not the answer.

Tough luck.

 

Some of us riff-raff have to work year-round....you can do it, too.

 

:lol: You probably get paid for it too.