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Strollerderby
Obama Wants Shorter Summer Breaks for Students
Did your kids spend their summer on the beach, at the pool, or just hunting for bugs in their backyard? That free time might be endangered. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are advocating for longer school days and a move toward a “balanced” or year round calendar for school kids.
Obama won the mock election in my kids’ school by a landslide. I wonder if those votes would have been different if the kids knew he had it in for summer break.
Obama and Duncan claim that American kids spend up to 30 percent fewer days in school than kids in other countries (though they have more instructional hours than many countries).
They want kids in urban neighborhoods to have a safe place to be during that 3-7 p.m. “latchkey” hour. And they want disadvantaged kids, who typically lose ground over the summer months, to keep learning when the warm weather hits.
In my home state, most schools in the northern counties break after Memorial Day, and state law mandates that public schools can’t start until after Labor Day. That’s because our state’s economy is dependent on tourism dollars. I’m not sure how that idea will fly here — with legislators, families, or kids. After all, here we only see the sun for about three months every year.
Obama’s idea is one that’s been tossed around again and again over the last decade. Do you think that American kids would benefit from year-round schooling?
Photos: Guillermo Ossa, sxc.hu
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Nicholle commented on Sep 28 09 at 4:29 pmHow sad! Maybe they should focus on improving the quality of the time that children spend in school instead of making the same broken system last longer. Also, schools shouldn’t be responsible for childcare while some parents have to work. School until 7 in the evening is not going to help most children. I doubt many of them pay attention in during the last period as it is. I think Obama’s administration should consider that the other countries that have year round school typically have shorter school days.
amandashea17 commented on Sep 28 09 at 4:44 pmFunny, since it seems like his kids are always going on vacation.
maeby commented on Sep 28 09 at 5:13 pmwhy not just start school later and leave later? 7:30 is too frikkin early. 2:45pm is too freakin early.
jenny tries too hard commented on Sep 28 09 at 5:16 pmhere’s a novel idea…how about letting parents choose where to send their kids to school without having to pay twice (once through taxes, and again through tuition). That way, parents who feel their kids would benefit from a longer day can make it happen, and so can parents who feel the opposite way.
cocobean commented on Sep 28 09 at 9:27 pmI agree with Nicholle! They are just trying to beat a dead horse. The American school system is broken and no amount of time in the classroom is going to change that. I am so sad for our children, it seems like they are never going to be aloud to just be kids.
Larissa commented on Sep 28 09 at 10:13 pmI’m so tired of the “double paying” complaint of fans of vouchers and other school choice ideas. We are not paying taxes to support the individual education of our children, we are contributing to a system that educates a wide section of society, for the benefit and advancement of all. Granted, I think it is a broken and misguided system and I’m homeschooling one of my kids b/c the schools weren’t serving her needs. But I’m not asking for a tax break b/c I had to buy curricula out of pocket. Because taxes are not a quid pro quo, they are a contribution ot a civil society.
jenny tries too hard commented on Sep 29 09 at 3:38 amI am glad you are able to homeschool your child, Larissa. If the “double paying” argument (though that is what you are doing) isn’t to your liking, how about the argument that we should make our tax dollars actually work effeciently? You have already seen first hand that children in the same house have vastly different educational needs, never mind children in the same neighborhood. Why not have our educational system respect those differences in households where parents can’t afford to make the same choice you did? Oh, and vouchers to private schools are typically less than the per-student allotment at a public school, and in the voucher programs in Milwaukee and DC, the students showed marked gains in achievement across the board. Failing vouchers, though, I wish the federal government would leave fairly variable education decisions (like the length of the school day) to states and individual districts. Why have individual districts if they aren’t a little bit self-determining?
Lisa commented on Sep 29 09 at 6:32 amLonger school years or a year round school calendar would benefit low income children who tend to lose skills in the summer. It does nothing for middle class kids who have enriching summer activities.
Marj commented on Oct 01 09 at 7:04 pmObama is not the first person to suggest year-round school. I remember this argument going on when I was a child. Also, FWIW I think vouchers rob money from the public schools.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 03 09 at 4:50 pmThat’s the point…if the public school doesn’t efficiently do its job (educate the kid) it shouldn’t get the money attached to that kid. That argument is like saying FedEx robs from the Post Office. Competition is not robbery.
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