Longer School Days? Or is it just Free Child Care?
President Obama would like to see American kids have longer school days. Either be extending the school day until 5:30, or by making school year round.
To me, what this is, is "free" day care. The article linked above has a few lines about test cases where scores actually improved in areas that increased the school year, but than at the bottom comes the part that I think is probably the driver here:
Increasingly, American parents expect teachers to parent their kids. They expect them to teach them everything they need to know, with no input or help from mom or dad. It's depressing. If your kid is falling behind in school, it should be up to the parents to get that kids grades up to par, not the teachers. But that's not the way the world works now.
I'm not sure what I think about longer school days. I think without active parents who participate in a childs education, we will still have kids who drop out and don't persue secondary education. I don't think adding hours to the day or days to the year is going to change that.
To me, what this is, is "free" day care. The article linked above has a few lines about test cases where scores actually improved in areas that increased the school year, but than at the bottom comes the part that I think is probably the driver here:
Summer is a crucial time for kids, especially poorer kids, because poverty is linked to problems that interfere with learning, such as hunger and less involvement by their parents.
That makes poor children almost totally dependent on their learning experience at school, said Karl Alexander, a sociology professor at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, home of the National Center for Summer Learning.
Disadvantaged kids, on the whole, make no progress in the summer, Alexander said. Some studies suggest they actually fall back. Wealthier kids have parents who read to them, have strong language skills and go to great lengths to give them learning opportunities such as computers, summer camp, vacations, music lessons, or playing on sports teams.
"If your parents are high school dropouts with low literacy levels and reading for pleasure is not hard-wired, it's hard to be a good role model for your children, even if you really want to be," Alexander said.
Increasingly, American parents expect teachers to parent their kids. They expect them to teach them everything they need to know, with no input or help from mom or dad. It's depressing. If your kid is falling behind in school, it should be up to the parents to get that kids grades up to par, not the teachers. But that's not the way the world works now.
I'm not sure what I think about longer school days. I think without active parents who participate in a childs education, we will still have kids who drop out and don't persue secondary education. I don't think adding hours to the day or days to the year is going to change that.
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