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.
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I love summer! personally, I think it would be sad to loose that time of carefree playing when you are a kid. I would rather add a few more days in the year to get more school time. I like the idea about more after school programs. It is good that Obama is talking about our need for intellectual improvement, even though some may not like to hear that americans are not born naturally smarter than everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a lot of really good points but the issue that he has not though about is that its a state decision and also there is no funds for it, atleast not in alot of countys in virginia(ex:fairfax) there is hardly enough money as it is for our school funding that it would not be practical to try to think about more school when there is still other issues that need to be dealt with regarding schools
ReplyDeleteI agree with Britney. Fairfax county is slowly losing funds for a variety of school programs that affect the interests of more than a few students. I know last year it was uncertain whether gymnastics, track, or swimming would be able to continue this year, and the music programs are feeling the effect of less funding. Staying open more days and/or hours would mean paying teachers and bus drivers for more hours; this doesn't make any sense if teachers are currently being let go since they can't be paid.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama is that upset with our supposed inability to keep up with the intelligence of students in other countris, we could always try the year-round school year with long summer and winter breaks as well as several other week-long breaks scattered throughout the year. But as a camp counselor who loves her job I wouldn't support this plan either.
Summer is something that I look forward to all year. I love having a long break. I do not agree with Obama that children do not go to school as much as children in other countries. On the contrary we probably spend more time working then the whole world. It is the quality of education and not the quantity I am concerned with. Obama wants to use the schools for babysitting to please his liberal friends. A good school in the USA can beat a good school anywhere in the world. That is why everyone wants to come to school in America. But I like your idea of all year-round schooling. Every nine weeks you get a two to three week break and year-round students do have a mini-summer vacation of a little over a month. If we have year-round schooling we would not have to review and like you said “The agrarian with kids working on the field during the summer break are over.” I think year-round schooling will help improve test scores.
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