Current Event #1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33044676/ns/us_news-education/

Obama would curtail summer vacation
President says American kids spend too little time in school

This article recently published on msnbc makes apparent that the schools in the United States are falling behind adademically compared to the rest of the world. The United States has been lagging behind internationally for years, with countries in Europe and Asia outperforming the United States in categories such as math, science, and literacy. In the article, Barack Obama states, "But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." This is saying that the United States needs to build the schools back up because if the United States falls behind with it's schools, then the country as a whole will also fall behind the rest of the world technologically and economically. The United States needs to keep up with the new advances that the rest of the world is making, and the way to do this is to go to the core of where the learning starts - the grade schools.
In the article, it becomes clear that American schools simply do not have as much classroom time as other schools worldwide do. Obama and other supporters, such as Arne Duncan, the Education secretary, feel that adding extra school time to public schools would help close this educational gap. The article compares the best ways to add extra time to public schools, whether it be adding extra hours to the school day or adding extra days to the school year. From prior studies, test scores have been increased more when minutes have been added to the school day rather than extra days added per year.
Personally, I believe the most effective way to add in more school time would be to take away the long summer and change the system to year round schooling. The agrarian days with kids working on the field during summer break are over, and the long summer holiday sets students back because the first few months back at school have to be spent refreshing students of what was lost over the summer. Also, I think another effective way of boosting the test scores of the United States as a whole would be to add more after school programs for students. This would be especially beneficial to students who are more disadvantaged because they would be safe and be able to get extra adademic enrichment that they may otherwise not be able to get. One last point I would like to add is that in Northern Virginia we may not be able to see this lagging of the United States because we are in a sort of bubble from the rest of the country, but it is definitely a major problem.

What political party are you most closely aligned with? Why?

The political party I would most associate myself with is the democratic party. This is mainly because I believe in money being spread out, rather than a small percentage of the populatioin controlling a large portion of the money. Utility companies, for example, should be government owned rather than being there to make a profit. Also, I believe in benefits to the working class. I think things such as health care should be available to all, not just those who can afford it. The poor, elderly, disabled, and unemployed should be allowed access to health care just like others and should not be disadvantaged just because of their social status. I also believe the democratic party is just more geared towards the average American, rather than the few wealthy Americans who have ridiculous amounts of money.