Year round school/longer school day?

[Badfish740]

I'm from NJ and in the wake of the "Bridgegate Scandal" (No discussion of that here please) the Governor has rolled out a proposal for extended the school day and year. I am completely opposed to this idea, but not for the usual reasons that I've heard others oppose it. There are various angles to come at it from, but forget cost, forget air conditioning the schools, etc... I think it all comes down to whether or not you believe your kids' whole lives should be consumed with school. When I was a kid I balanced school, sports, after school and summer jobs, family obligations, being involved in my church/community, and just plain hanging out with my friends and doing the things I enjoyed. Sometimes one or more of those things suffered at the expense of other things. Sometimes I didn't make it to practice and lost my spot at the wrestling meet that weekend. Sometimes I was late for work and lost pay/my boss yelled at me, sometimes I didn't do my homework and I got a bad grade on a test.

The point is I learned from all of those experiences. I learned about life, social skills, time management, and other important lessons in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Good grades got me into college, but they didn't help me succeed there. Knowing how to manage my life did. I rented my own place, worked almost full time, interned, graduated, and got a job. Not bad for a kid who only went school 180 days a year from 7:00-3:00. I would not only be sad for my kids if this is the way things went, I'd also be worried for them. I'd be worried that they wouldn't be able to take advantage of the same opportunities I did in order to become well rounded individuals. I'm curious to hear what others thing about this.

 

[midwestcoast]

I think we can have a prosperous, successful future as a society & still give kids some time to be kids.
I'd vote for better school over more school any day.

 

[Ehouse]

I vote for less school, like a 4 day school week, and a 4 day work week as well. More freedom from the grind.

 

[Beer Belly]

Being a Custodian, I don't think that a full year school, or extended school year would work out well. While some parents ask me, "how was your summer vacation?", and I tell them "there is no summer vacation for us, we work year round".....they give me that puzzled look, "Why ?...there are no kids to clean up after?"....then I let them know that every summer, every single room get broken down, and every chair, desk, window, and all walls get cleaned (and painted if needed).....every classroom and hall gets stripped and refinished.....this includes the wood floors in the cafeteria, and the stage.....every rug shampooed, and every surface dusted. If you have school in session year round, how will the maintenance, and cleaning get done ??....it really plays havoc when you have a lot of snow days, and they extend the year, taking time away from getting the summer clean up done.....and they think we're just a bunch of dirt pushers.

 

[bassJAM]

Being a Custodian, I don't think that a full year school, or extended school year would work out well. While some parents ask me, "how was your summer vacation?", and I tell them "there is no summer vacation for us, we work year round".....they give me that puzzled look, "Why ?...there are no kids to clean up after?"....then I let them know that every summer, every single room get broken down, and every chair, desk, window, and all walls get cleaned (and painted if needed).....every classroom and hall gets stripped and refinished.....this includes the wood floors in the cafeteria, and the stage.....every rug shampooed, and every surface dusted. If you have school in session year round, how will the maintenance, and cleaning get done ??....it really plays havoc when you have a lot of snow days, and they extend the year, taking time away from getting the summer clean up done.....and they think we're just a bunch of dirt pushers.

My best friend is a custodian at the local high school. While he admits during the school year he probably only needs to work on average 3-4 hours a day (and is still praised as having the cleanest building at the school), they do bust their rears during summer break.

I'm a big advocate that kids need time to be kids. While a good education is great and needed, I'm not convinced that school does anything but stifle creativity at the same time, and there's a lot of jobs where being creative and thinking out the box will put you ahead. At the same time though, sadly I feel I was one of the last generations (I'm 31) to actually play outside. Sitting inside on an Xbox doesn't do a kid any good, he might as well be at school than rotting his brain away in front of a TV. Kids are also coddled so much they don't have a desire to succeed IMO. As soon as I could drive I got a job at a local school with the janitor helping him out, and baled hay in the afternoon and weekends whenever I could and it payed for my first car and a year of college. Too many parents just give cars and college tuition to their kids now.

So while I'm opposed to all year school, I'm also opposed to parents letting their kids be lazy.

 

[MishMouse]

If this passes I predict the following:
Home schooling will increase dramatically
Test scores will plummet
Dropout rates would increase
Violence in the schools would be more out of control then it currently is.
Quality of schooling will bottom out

 

[razerface]

I like my kids. They are grown now, but I would have been mad at all year long school. I waited just as impatient as they did for summer so we could do stuff together.

 

[Jags]

Kids can learn just as much outside of class as they can in class. Working the fields during summer offered some of lifes lessons that can't be had in class. Its amazing what a hard days work can teach a young lad.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Education is a massive mess. (not meaning that in a derogatory way mind you) I think that schools are one of the greatest indicators of the long term health of the country. they also tend sometimes to reflect the changes in societal norms.

schools should be available for kids of every ability level, but not diminished by the one size fits all approach. while I agree with some of the "no child left behind" approach , the meat of it is rotten. face facts, some kids are simply brighter than others in some ways, in order to bring along the average student , in a lot of ways the exceptional student is held back. so it becomes "smart child left behind" or more accurately smart kid not getting the fullest benefit from the school.

I think magnet or merit schools for exceptionally bright students would be a powerful tool to bring these students to their full potential, problem is , society and politics would screw it up with quota's and other crap. some activist would do a study based on societal figures and contend that some group was being unfairly left out for reasons other than their ability.

one of the biggest things though I see now that upsets me is this SOL thing. a mandated curriculum which simply forces educators to "teach for the test" instead of teaching in the manner I was taught. I watched this as my daughter went through school, I thought it was crazy, still do. there were things I had learned in school that weren't even broached in her time there. having spoken to a few teachers who I still know none of them like it. its too rigid, and frankly too politicized these days. a teacher I had and still look upon him as one of the best I had in my whole school experience said to me once during a round of golf that he simply cannot teach the way he did when I went through his class. granted he was unorthodox in his methods but I learned so much more in the year I had him than in other classes of a similar field mostly because he taught outside the box. now im not saying this would work for everybody but it did with me, classes were more "discussions" on the topic of the day rather than pointing to the material and laying out what is expected to be learned.

lastly, I think firmly that actual teachers should have more of a voice in the curriculum not some bureaucrat with a degree and no classroom time

 

[Ehouse]

Education is a massive mess. (not meaning that in a derogatory way mind you) I think that schools are one of the greatest indicators of the long term health of the country. they also tend sometimes to reflect the changes in societal norms.

schools should be available for kids of every ability level, but not diminished by the one size fits all approach. while I agree with some of the "no child left behind" approach , the meat of it is rotten. face facts, some kids are simply brighter than others in some ways, in order to bring along the average student , in a lot of ways the exceptional student is held back. so it becomes "smart child left behind" or more accurately smart kid not getting the fullest benefit from the school.

I think magnet or merit schools for exceptionally bright students would be a powerful tool to bring these students to their full potential, problem is , society and politics would screw it up with quota's and other crap. some activist would do a study based on societal figures and contend that some group was being unfairly left out for reasons other than their ability.

one of the biggest things though I see now that upsets me is this SOL thing. a mandated curriculum which simply forces educators to "teach for the test" instead of teaching in the manner I was taught. I watched this as my daughter went through school, I thought it was crazy, still do. there were things I had learned in school that weren't even broached in her time there. having spoken to a few teachers who I still know none of them like it. its too rigid, and frankly too politicized these days. a teacher I had and still look upon him as one of the best I had in my whole school experience said to me once during a round of golf that he simply cannot teach the way he did when I went through his class. granted he was unorthodox in his methods but I learned so much more in the year I had him than in other classes of a similar field mostly because he taught outside the box. now im not saying this would work for everybody but it did with me, classes were more "discussions" on the topic of the day rather than pointing to the material and laying out what is expected to be learned.

lastly, I think firmly that actual teachers should have more of a voice in the curriculum not some bureaucrat with a degree and no classroom time

+1

 

[Beer Belly]

Education is a massive mess. (not meaning that in a derogatory way mind you) I think that schools are one of the greatest indicators of the long term health of the country. they also tend sometimes to reflect the changes in societal norms.

schools should be available for kids of every ability level, but not diminished by the one size fits all approach. while I agree with some of the "no child left behind" approach , the meat of it is rotten. face facts, some kids are simply brighter than others in some ways, in order to bring along the average student , in a lot of ways the exceptional student is held back. so it becomes "smart child left behind" or more accurately smart kid not getting the fullest benefit from the school.

I think magnet or merit schools for exceptionally bright students would be a powerful tool to bring these students to their full potential, problem is , society and politics would screw it up with quota's and other crap. some activist would do a study based on societal figures and contend that some group was being unfairly left out for reasons other than their ability.

one of the biggest things though I see now that upsets me is this SOL thing. a mandated curriculum which simply forces educators to "teach for the test" instead of teaching in the manner I was taught. I watched this as my daughter went through school, I thought it was crazy, still do. there were things I had learned in school that weren't even broached in her time there. having spoken to a few teachers who I still know none of them like it. its too rigid, and frankly too politicized these days. a teacher I had and still look upon him as one of the best I had in my whole school experience said to me once during a round of golf that he simply cannot teach the way he did when I went through his class. granted he was unorthodox in his methods but I learned so much more in the year I had him than in other classes of a similar field mostly because he taught outside the box. now im not saying this would work for everybody but it did with me, classes were more "discussions" on the topic of the day rather than pointing to the material and laying out what is expected to be learned

lastly, I think firmly that actual teachers should have more of a voice in the curriculum not some bureaucrat with a degree and no classroom time

+2