http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2009/03/obama-proposes-longer-school-days-extended-school-year/
This week President Obama proposed that American school children extend their time in class, either by lengthening the school day, or spending less time on summer vacation.
“We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day,” Obama said. He continued to say “That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy.”
The last time I checked, each state sets their own school year schedule, not the President of the United States. I am not aware of any Constitutional argument that would give the President and/or Congress any authority whatsoever to do what he is suggesting. Does the President realize how inappropriate it is for him to suggest otherwise?
As a stand-alone suggestion, it’s probably neutral at best. If the kids aren’t LEARNING, sticking them in the classroom for longer periods of time won’t change things much. We have to improve the QUALITY of the education, not the quantity. So his suggestion isn’t going to magically fix any problems in our educational system… and may actually make things worse.
But back to his arogant assumption of power that doesn’t belong to him… each state in this nation is a sovereign entity and has the right and responsibility to govern itself as it sees fit. I guess this doesn’t matter to PresBo… I mean, he owns car companies and controls banks. Why shouldn’t he exercise control over states as well?
UPDATE: Here's an analysis of the economic costs of PresBo's proposal. "Critics say the president's call for a longer academic calendar and a shorter summer vacation will bring on a host of unintended consequences -- including increased costs for school systems, major cuts to the nation's hotel and tourism industries, and a serious blow to summer camp operators."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/28/obamas-extended-school-year-dire-economic-effects-critics-claim/
Here's another thing he hasn't considered, and as a college student I see a lot of this.
ReplyDeleteAmerican students are in school pretty much constantly from 5 to 21 or 22. And that's just undergrad. Want a master's degree? Another four years. A doctorate? God help you. And you just can't get a job with a bachelor's degree these days.
So really, children are under so much pressure to learn, learn, learn that they don't really get a chance to be kids anymore. A lot of freshmen are here straight out of high school, because their parents won't let them rest for a year.
So what happens? They burn out. Completely. The schedule, the new material, the responsibility is all too much, and they begin failing classes.
We want to make that happen faster? Maybe set it so high school seniors just can't take the pressure anymore? How about juniors? Sophomores? Where will it end?
That was a very good point, Tsyeria, and one I hadn't thought of. My school days are FAR behind me, I'm afraid, and I hadn't thought of that.
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