I have a new article up on my Examiner site. Obama’s talking about having school on weekends and throughout summer, as well as extending school hours each day.
Perhaps the children need a union, demanding a 40 hour education week, along with 15 minute breaks to spend outside playing.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think more time spent in schools is the answer. Playing, spending time with family, and participating in the community will help students more than doubling their time inside seated at a desk. Many schools are cutting their art, music, and hands- on classes. When are students who want a more rounded education supposed to take piano lessons, attend dance class, or go to karate tournaments? When are they supposed to see their parents and spend time just hanging out?
If the Obama Song is what passes for culture and music class, I’ll just take care of that at home, thank you very much (oh, wait, I already do! But what if homeschooling isn’t the best choice for our family in the future? This is important even if you homeschool, because the public schools are educating your child’s friends, future spouses, co-workers, and bosses and set the tone for how society views children. Are they going to be viewed as underachievers who need more time in an institution (the school), handled by professionals, or are children going to be welcomed as a natural part of every day life?
Not to mention how many ice cream truck drivers might be put out of business…
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
And what about the long-term mental effects of being, basically, institutionalized? What are we saying to our children-”Your teachers are not effective so we’re going to punish you!”
And where does the government plan to get the money to pay all those teachers overtime?
While I more or less agree with you, this solution only works for homes that are willing/capable of doing this.
The problem is that Obama is forced to look at the entire country and in the areas most plagued by drop outs, uneducation, and lack of opportunities. Those are not in middle class suburbs, or in religious homes. They are in inner cities, in poorer suburbs etc. The parents are exhausted from working so many jobs to keep the family afloat and the kids are left alone for long stretches of time- recipe for disastor. Or the parents don’t work and don’t value education and see little wrong with their kids working for drug dealers or getting into gangs because they see no other future for themselves. Or the parents can’t feed them, and the only food they get is in schools.
One of the largest complaints of teachers in school systems like this is that weekends are horrible because the kids only feel safe in school and are in the groove and relaxed enough to learn on Wed and Thurs only. They know they won’t eat, get abused, have to take care of themselves on the streets on the weekends so Fridays are stressed and Mondays and Tuesdays are spent trying to get the kids to refocus from the weekend.
These are the kids that forget everything and regress in the summers as well. Please, lets not get stuck in our bubble existances and forget the hard realties that do exist in many parts of the country. Obama isn’t concerned about your families, or my family… he’s concerned about these kids that society has left behind.
I don’t think every family should homeschool or even can. But we would be much better served if our government encouraged stay at home parents. I’d rather see a tax credit for a parent to be the caregiver than see more $ for longer school days. I’d rather see a literacy center or expanded libraries in inner cities, with classes for parents (or parents and their kids) than pay for public school through June. I’d rather see community based/controlled safe places, such as Boys and Girls Club or YMCA programs for children that can’t go home due to dysfunctional parenting, rather than MORE school.
Very often, school is NOT a safe place for students (emotionally, if not physically).
I’m not saying there isn’t a problem, but I vehemently disagree that institutionalized schooling is the solution.
One last thing- I firmly believe that until the large gaps in education are narrowed we are going to divide into two groups. The kids who do go to an institutionalized, one step away from boarding school, school system and the kids that are homeschooled.
I also think that there will be more school systems that offer choices in what type of school you want to go to. In our local school system we have one elementary school that goes year round and the others that don’t. You are able to pick which one you want. I think that will become more and more common.
Year round schooling is great. However, the students don’t actually go ALL year, they have weeks on/weeks off. So they get the same amount of summer vacation (just not in June, July, and August).
I also think schools would better serve students if they didn’t arbitarily divide them simply by age. I think multiage classrooms would be a huge benefit to many children, especially those with poor home lives.
Well said, Milehimama!