Comments on: How About a Longer School Year?

By: nowsane

nowsane — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:12:22 +0000

Chloe makes some very good points about technology as it affects education. I’ve always been interested in distance learning, and I can’t understand why administrators have not embraced this aspect of education. But too often, as here in California, rules are set up not to benefit students but to ensure the continued employment of existing teachers. Who cares whether the students learn anything?
But the authur and Ken are also right in regards to always looking to increased $$$ to solve a TEACHING issue and getting burdened with the federal government’s interpretation of what course of instruction right for all students.
School Choice for everyone!!!

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:02:59 +0000

Excuse me for being simplistic in such an important, august debate, but when the school year was approximately 9 months long our country led the world in just about everything. Our kids were leaving aschool with real basic skills and not a string of A’s in “sensitivity training.” WE also had trade schools which produced mcuh of our manufacturing talent. Back only a few decades, maybe four or five, It seemed that kids getting a full summer break was a positive thing. Going down to the local swimming hole and maybe attending some summer school classes, taking in some movies and having some fun didn’t seem to hold back anyone. It was all working just fine. Then, somewhere in the 60s, along came a new twisted mindset, probably a product of federal meddling, and the school year increased but kids no longer could tell you who George Washington was. Through recent decades (of which I have had first hand experience in seven) one of our biggest failings in education seems to me to be that we can’t let something that is working continue unmolested. Enter the “experts!” Now we hire experts at burdensome cost, administrators with outrageous salaries, to meddle with and change what is working. Before all we needed was horse sense. It allowed us to prevail in the great wars and put a man on the moon. Seems adequate! So what in the h— is wrong with us now? In general, the author is right on target. He hits the bullseye. Modern educational thinking is too pathetically muddled. Going back to our educational future makes so much sense. So, fire the experts who have dragged us down, clip the administrator gaggle by 90% and let’s get back to the basics.

By: Chloe

Chloe — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:01:20 +0000

I just disagree with your stance on the longer school year. The power of summer vacation in creating geniuses is a heartwarming sentiment.With more time, used well (very key here), the longer school day/school year can provide more engaging, high-quality academics; more opportunities for enrichments, internships, and fulfilling experiences; and more interactions with caring and attentive adults. It is about expanding opportunities and ensuring equity for children.

Funding (or a lack there of!)is obviously a barrier. I recommend this resource: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec11/vol69/num04/Time%E2%80%94It's-Not-Always-Money.aspx

By: CalWatchdog

CalWatchdog — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:34:33 +0000

In reply to Chloe.

Chloe: “18th and 19th Century”? No one traveled from Michigan to California in the 18th Century. In the 19th, it would have meant going with Lewis and Clark, or later on a conestoga wagon. I certainly “smell that 21st century coffee” today, as I report on this Website on how far America, and California, have fallen since 1964, through multiple and increasing assaults on the middle class from absurdly high taxes and regulations; and how the poor have been damaged through debilitating welfare dependency that keeps them hooked into government programs and bureaucrats while preventing them from entering the middle class.

— John Seiler

By: Chloe

Chloe — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:14:04 +0000

That is really lovely that you and your family enjoyed summer vacations traveling and exploring the land. Unfortunately as reality has it, that is not the summer that students who live in high-poverty areas are experiencing. The 18th and 19th century were glorious, but let’s wake up and smell that 21st century coffee.

By: Rex The Wonder Dog!

Rex The Wonder Dog! — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:02:21 +0000

It’s like trying to decide who’s more guilty. The guy who cracked the safe or the guy reached in and took the money. Did you hear the latest? Now the Powers that Be are claiming that the theft of $1.6B in segregated customer accounts by MF Global was an ‘accounting mistake’ and not a crime!!

Yep, pretty pathetic. If Corzine is not sent to prison rioting will occur, why he is not in jail awaiting charges is purely politics IMO.

By: Beelzebub

Beelzebub — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:05:13 +0000

“It is our elected leaders-they are wiping out the country at the bequest of Big Business, greed is destroying the middle class and poor while making the top 1% filthy rich”

There it is! So many people miss the point when they blame it exclusively on government or exclusively on Wall Street. The state and corporate powers have MERGED which has resulted in a form of fascism. The meltdown of 2008 could have never happened without the willful participation of BOTH! Both are EQUALLY responsible! It’s like trying to decide who’s more guilty. The guy who cracked the safe or the guy reached in and took the money. Did you hear the latest? Now the Powers that Be are claiming that the theft of $1.6B in segregated customer accounts by MF Global was an ‘accounting mistake’ and not a crime!!! 😀 So looks like Corzine and his lieutenants will never get punished. Of course Corzine was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, a former NJ state senator and a former governor and a big contributor to Obama’s reelection. This is like the mob operations back in the 20’s/30’s only on a much, much larger scale.

By: Rex The Wonder Dog!

Rex The Wonder Dog! — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:30:11 +0000

Wow, that was a GREAT video (up until the commie dork at the end) and it is really the root of our problem, off shoring our jobs like JP Morgan does.

It is our elected leaders-they are wiping out the country at the bequest of Big Business, greed is destroying the middle class and poor while making the top 1% filthy rich.

By: Beelzebub

Beelzebub — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:45:54 +0000

“When Chicago is selling their DT parking meters to Goldman Sachs and the rates go up 500% in 12 months you know the city has problems………”

Did you know that JP Morgan processes food stamp claims for most states? It gets paid a per capita rate for each food stamp recipient. $Billions$ in added revenue and profit. Recently there was an ad campaign to recruit more food stamp applicants. I suspect JP Morgan contributed to that too. We have 46M on food stamps in America. In 2002 there were only 18M on food stamps.

By: Rex The Wonder Dog!

Rex The Wonder Dog! — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:50:53 +0000

BTW-that is exactly what Arnold was trying to do with our state office buildings-all paid for with no rent-he wanted to sell them so we could rent them back and lose money on an annual basis for eternity.