Quote:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Tuesday that American children should go to school longer — either stay later in the day or into the summer — if they're going to have any chance of competing for jobs and paychecks against foreign kids.

"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, adding U.S. education to his already crowded list of top priorities.

"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."

He urged administrators to "rethink the school day" to add more class time.

"I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," he said. "Not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom. If they can do that in South Korea, we can do it right here in the United States of America."

He proposed longer class hours as part of a broader effort to improve U.S. schools that he said are falling behind foreign competitors.

"Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us," Obama said. "In 8th grade math, we've fallen to 9th place. Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and 14-year olds can read as well as they should."

Among his proposals: extra pay for better teachers, something opposed by teachers unions. "It is time to start rewarding good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones," he said in a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom."

Teachers' groups applauded Obama's speech, largely sidestepping the thorny question of merit pay. "Teachers want to make a difference in kids' lives, and they appreciate a president who shares that goal and will spend his political capital to provide the resources to make it happen," said Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers. "As with any public policy, the devil is in the details, and it is important that teachers' voices are heard."

Despite his call for changes and his use of examples from around the country, Obama didn't mention the simmering dispute over one program in Washington.

Democrats in Congress were poised Tuesday to use a budget bill to wipe out $14 million for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.

The federally financed program gives grants or vouchers averaging $6,000 to 1,700 poor children in Washington to help them attend private schools.

Obama, who sends his children to private school rather than to Washington's public schools, didn't mention the program.

"President Obama himself passed up the District's public schools and sent his daughters to prestigious Sidwell Friends," the Washington Post said in a recent editorial. "Two Sidwell students will lose their Opportunity Scholarships if Congress kills the program. There is nothing wrong with choosing the best possible school for your children, but doing so while denying that choice to poor D.C. students is shameful."

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Seuss said:

It is an Obama plan, so how can it be bad?

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Redstorm said:

If anything, it will improve our stats a tiny bit, which means that everyone will forget that a problem exists.

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Redstorm said:

As a child, however, if this causes you to drop out, you have deeper issues than that which can be cured with a quality education system.

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Redstorm said:

Motivation and striving to get ahead are not qualities primarily taught in schools, but by one's parents and other cultural surroundings.

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Prisoner#1 said:

Seuss said:

It is an Obama plan, so how can it be bad?

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school here starts a month earlier than when I was a kid, it ends a week
later, the holidays have gotten shorter, obamas plan has been in effect
far longer than obama has been in office

longer hours wont fix the issues with education in the US and extending
the periods of time kids spend in school will do nothing more than punish
more wealthy kids who's parents can afford child care

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Poid said:

Redstorm said:

If anything, it will improve our stats a tiny bit, which means that everyone will forget that a problem exists.

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Kids who have low marks in school already hate it, how is forcing them to stay longer going to help anything?

It's not. Any child who acts as if school is a concentration camp is a lost cause and probably should drop out.  We do still need our McDonald's workers and starving artists.  Then again, most starving artists even attend !GASP! art SCHOOL.

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Prisoner#1 said:

the school system I was in decided to give the kids a taste of what
government was about, we got to vote on whether or not we wanted to
decrease our holiday time in exchange for a longer summer, every student
in the schools voted, in our school about 10% of the kids voted for things
to remain the same, the student in other schools voted similarly, the
county BoE shortened the holidays and tacked 10 extra days into the school
year


we sure learned a valuable lesson about how government works

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Quote:

"Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us," Obama said.

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Redstorm said:

If these students don't want to be in class, good. All they do anyways is disrupt class and slow down the pace for students who actually give a shit.

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Redstorm said:

No, I think mostly intelligent AND motivated individuals make the education system work for them.

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Redstorm said:

It's a system. If you give a shit enough to know the ins and outs of it, it doesn't have to be hell.

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Redstorm said:

I grew up in a poor rural area to poor parents. I point this out so you know my example was not an upper class oddity, not representative of the rest of reality.

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Redstorm said:

I went to an alternative satellite/charter school for half the day in high school.  I know all about alternative educational opportunities and that they exist all over the US. Trade schools are also available to many students who are not compatible with traditional schooling.

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Quote:

b]Redstorm said:
If these students don't want to be in class, good. All they do anyways is disrupt class and slow down the pace for students who actually give a shit.

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luvdemshrooms
After a long summer I think brains have turned to mush for too many students.

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Quote:

Prisoner#1 said:
I attended public schools, I guess many of my experiences were different
because it didnt seem that the kids that didnt want to learn were the
disruption as much as it was some of the teachers trying to make
examples of those students

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DieCommie said:

Summer breaks FTL.  They are not needed anymore and do a disservice to students.

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I think compulsory education does a disservice to the human race.

Poid said:

You still don't get it. If school is just for learning, then we don't need it. These days, everything can be learned at home on the computer.

That's the problem with schooling, that it happens in a social environment/context.

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Quote:

"Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us," Obama said. "In 8th grade math, we've fallen to 9th place. Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and 14-year olds can read as well as they should."

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Poid said:

Obviously, since everything can be learned at home on a computer, school is obsolete as a mechanism of education, right? So then, why does it still exist?


I know that some people prefer learning in a social context, and that's fine, but you have to account for those who prefer to learn independently, like myself. For me, and others like me, learning and socializing is a contridiction of terms.

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