Sunday, September 27, 2009

Summer Vacations Threatened?

http://www.momlogic.com/images/just_say_no_to_linger_school_hp-thumb-132x132.jpg An Associated Press article touts an idea that President Barack Obama wants more school time for children and less summer breaks. My question...is this the answer?

AP:

Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.
"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.
"Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Fifth-grader Nakany Camara is of two minds. She likes the four-week summer program at her school, Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville, Md. Nakany enjoys seeing her friends there and thinks summer school helped boost her grades from two Cs to the honor roll.
But she doesn't want a longer school day. "I would walk straight out the door," she said.

We've heard so many ideas about what to do about our public schools. And we've heard ideas like this in the past. Is it time for this to be looked at more? Do you think this will work?

E.C. :)

1 comment:

Cynthia Vaughn said...

I haven't read about Obama's plan, but I'd personally like to see a 200 day school year. That would leave all the current days off during the year as well as a two-month summer vacation, and I do think most students would benefit from an increase in the number of school days...as long as they were filled with quality instruction.