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EDITORIAL
Longer school year?
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On Monday, the president tried to boost his school reform bona fides by granting a half-hour, education-focused interview to NBC. His most newsworthy statement was a call for a longer American school year, which currently averages 180 instruction days. More days in the classroom would be "money well-spent," he said.
It's a reasonable suggestion, given that countries with much higher levels of achievement -- especially in math and science -- typically keep their kids in class an extra month each year.
The problem is, testing data consistently show that the longer American kids spend in public school systems, the farther they fall behind their peers in other countries. Our fourth-graders fare well against the rest of the developed world. Eighth-graders, not so much. By the 11th grade, they're well behind the pack.
And President Obama wants American kids to stay in class even longer?
In addition, the president's recommendation would cost billions.
Most states, including Nevada, are grappling with the fiscal effects of the crippling recession, shrinking some bureaucracies and raising taxes just to preserve existing K-12 systems. Pouring vast sums of new money into schools isn't fiscally possible or cost effective.
But states can provide more classroom instruction if Mr. Obama and Congress are willing to go a different route: Get the federal government out of state-run schools, leaving the money in local hands and allowing districts to implement the reforms necessary to build a foundation for achievement.
The No Child Left Behind Act, while a well-intentioned effort to force accountability on the public schools, hasn't delivered much in the way of results. Neither have previous federal initiatives designed to attack stagnant test scores.
A longer school year is a policy change worth debating -- after our schools are subjected to serious reform and public education monopolies face increased competition. More of a bad thing is not a good thing.
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Same age groups, John F. I can not remember which country it was, Sweden or Norway. Heck, it might have been Denmark. Also, their daily time spent in class was a lot shorter too. Schooling = schooling. Schoooling is not equal to education. That is what most people do not realize. What we have is a system of schooling. Mostly devised by large idustrial interests modeled after the Prussian system. It was never meant to educate. The Prussian system was set up after the crushing defeat by Napoleon when educated Prussian soldier simpley walked away from the field and went home. They were that smart. So, the Prussian insituted a complusary system meant to mold children to follow orders and unable to reason. We all owe a huge thanks to John Dewey for what he inflicted upon us with this Prussian schooling system.
David: Who are they testing? The fifteen and sixteen year old kids being tested in Sweden are those still in school. The thirteen year olds who aren't in school aren't being tested.
I am glad at least some here get it. As far as the rest who want to blame just Republicans, you know where you can go. You are frauds and do not even deserve to live in this great country. Most of the clowns in DC are too blame: left, middle and right. Real change is coming though and you fools will definitely not like it,. i.e., jail time and or serious impeachment proceedings. You think not? If not, then you are even dumber that your posts already make you out to be. A restored America will have no mercy on you.
Students are learning in our public schools. Our students are tested on 9 months of learning after just 6 months in the classroom. If Nevada would just test the students at the end of the year (after 9 months of learning), our students would show better achievement and would be on pace with the rest of the world. Until then, a student is not going to advance a whole grade when they have barely been in the grade 1/2 a year when the tests are given. Find the truth, people, by actually going into a school and learning for yourself what the truth really is. Think for yourself and quit letting the media tell you what to think.
Want kids to learn? Give them "hooked on phonics" instead of "grand theft auto" or "lady ga ga". Not indoctrination camps? anybody see the school kids singing and pledging their loyalty to obama?
Other countries out pace us because while we are teaching the kids to sing about how great Obama is, how to embrace “alternate lifestyles” and other liberal garbage they are teaching their children How to read, science, Advanced math, Computer technologies, physics and engineering concepts… same reason why our university system is failing and the cost to give a child a poor education here costs so much.
Kids are shuffled around so much and taught from a liberal PC perspective that actual time taught teaching subjects that matter in life are no longer a focus. It will never change, parents think they are entitled to so much “free stuff” their will never be an emphasis on actual education.
Given that schools are currently nothing more than government indoctrination camps, do you really want your children to be in their hands even longer? "Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed i have sown will never be uprooted".---- "Give us the child for eight years, and it will be a bolshevik forever". V. I. LENIN
What John F says in to at tall true. There are many countrys in Europe with shorter schooling time. It is either Norway or Sweden that has kids in school only until 13 or 14 years of age. Those kids also blow American kids out of the water test wise.
The reason that scores are close in 4th grade, and much worse by 11th is that by 4th grade our kids have had only 4 less months of school total than those overseas. By 11th grade the total is 11 months less of classroom time, almost a year less of school than students the same age in other countries. Its called extrapolation.