State of the State-Year round school (day care, how much, home)
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This topic has been debated here from time to time, but since it's an official priority of the Christie Administration, why not hash it out again. There are various angles to come at it from, but forget cost, forget air conditioning the schools, etc... This all comes down to whether or not you believe your kids' whole lives should be consumed with school. When I was a kid I balanced school, sports, after school and summer jobs, family obligations, being involved in my church/community, and just plain hanging out with my friends and doing the things I enjoyed. Sometimes one or more of those things suffered at the expense of other things. Sometimes I didn't make it to practice and lost my spot at the wrestling meet that weekend. Sometimes I was late for work and lost pay/my boss yelled at me, sometimes I didn't do my homework and I got a bad grade on a test.
The point is I learned from all of those experiences. I learned about life, social skills, time management, and other important lessons in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Good grades got me into college, but they didn't help me succeed there. Knowing how to manage my life did. I rented my own place, worked almost full time, interned, graduated, and got a job. Not bad for a kid who only went school 180 days a year from 7:00-3:00 I would not only be sad for my kids if this is the way things went, I'd also be worried for them. I'd be worried that they wouldn't be able to take advantage of the same opportunities I did in order to become well rounded individuals. I'm curious to hear what others thing about this.
Last edited by Badfish740; 01-15-2014 at 08:09 AM..
I get your point about those other experiences, and i don't think Christie is proposing "year round" school. Summer jobs don't come into play basically until you are a Sophomore or Junior in HS, so I don't see that as a solid argument against the benefits of a longer school year.
The information out there that shows how much students lose over summer vacation is pretty convincing.
There's still time to do plenty of extra curriculars, so I don't see that as an argument against a longer school calander.
I get your point about those other experiences, and i don't think Christie is proposing "year round" school. Summer jobs don't come into play basically until you are a Sophomore or Junior in HS, so I don't see that as a solid argument against the benefits of a longer school year.
There are various proposals, but many that I've seen propose something like four weeks on, two weeks off through the summer at least. I had a summer job starting the summer between 8th and 9th grade and worked every summer after that until I started working full time. Whenever I applied for summer jobs, the first question was, "Are you available all summer?" If the answer was no, you didn't get the job. That doesn't even take into account sports, camps, and other activities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bradykp
The information out there that shows how much students lose over summer vacation is pretty convincing.
I'm not sure how or why that is the school system's problem. Schools assign summer reading and other activities, and parents/students are free to pursue learning opportunities and tutoring throughout the summer if they'd like or decide they need it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bradykp
There's still time to do plenty of extra curriculars, so I don't see that as an argument against a longer school calander.
Even if they lengthen the school day? Most high school athletes (and middle school) don't get home until 7:00 p.m. when their sports are in season. Most after school jobs expect students to be there by 3:30-4:00.
This originally began as a solution to the problems of urban schools. Kids in inner city districts are practically being raised by their schools because they don't have parents who are capable of raising them. They feed the kids breakfast, lunch, and dinner, keep them in school longer so they're not roaming the streets, and help them with their homework. "Summer learning loss" is also big issue for these districts. Those of us who live in towns where the schools are good and the parents are engaged don't need the state to raise our children, nor do we want it to.
This is nothing but a political distraction with no legs. There simply is no funding to support this and Christie knows it. I also think the investigation as to the ads is a purposeful distraction to get our minds off Bridgegate. stay focused nj
This is nothing but a political distraction with no legs. There simply is no funding to support this and Christie knows it. I also think the investigation as to the ads is a purposeful distraction to get our minds off Bridgegate. stay focused nj
Regardless of whether that's true or not these debates interest me because the folks who advocate for a longer school year/longer school day seem to have endless amounts of research to cite, but often have not given any thought to how such a drastic change would impact day to day living for kids and parents. I will say that to me this type of thing smacks of "Nanny State" liberalism, so it's interesting that this is coming from the presumed 2016 Republican nominee for President.
Regardless of whether that's true or not these debates interest me because the folks who advocate for a longer school year/longer school day seem to have endless amounts of research to cite, but often have not given any thought to how such a drastic change would impact day to day living for kids and parents. I will say that to me this type of thing smacks of "Nanny State" liberalism, so it's interesting that this is coming from the presumed 2016 Republican nominee for President.
These are states that already offer it, and most of them are not liberal states:
"According to the National Association for Year-Round Education, there are a number school districts throughout the nation that follow the year-round school calendar. These school districts are located in the following states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin."
Exposing our children longer than necessary to a failed edu system in the portals of social justice formerly called schools is a huge mistake but allows the unions to demand more cash for teachers to pay more unoin dues and qualifies the unions for more federal aid.
You would have to conclude that the time spent in the presence of the edu system is linear in its relationship to producing smater children. Wrong assumption given the state of affairs.
Poor little boys who should be running around are held against a template used to judge little girls and as a result the boys get medicated on the recomendation of some teacher playing psycologist. It is unnnatural for a kid to sit on his or her butt all day long. Cross off creativity in that situation although the most useful outcome might be daydreaming.
Exposing our children longer than necessary to a failed edu system in the portals of social justice formerly called schools is a huge mistake but allows the unions to demand more cash for teachers to pay more unoin dues and qualifies the unions for more federal aid.
You would have to conclude that the time spent in the presence of the edu system is linear in its relationship to producing smater children. Wrong assumption given the state of affairs.
Poor little boys who should be running around are held against a template used to judge little girls and as a result the boys get medicated on the recomendation of some teacher playing psycologist. It is unnnatural for a kid to sit on his or her butt all day long. Cross off creativity in that situation although the most useful outcome might be daydreaming.
I actually don't believe things are that bad. I'm quite happy with the quality of education in our town, I just don't believe that kids need to be in school any longer than they already are.
While I can see how the OP has happy memories of his summer vacation days, the sad fact is it is not the same anymore. Back in the day, most women were homemakers and were able to look after their families during the day and kids could roam around freely outside and play. Most jobs were 9-5 jobs. Times are different now, more women are joining the workforce these days and most jobs are no longer 9-5 jobs. Our kids will be competing for jobs not just with people in this country but also with people from other countries. Life has more stress and people are working longer hours. Our kids lag behind kids from other developed countries in their reading and math skills.
So, will a longer school year help? I think it will. 10 to 11 weeks of summer vacation is just too long. Younger kids tend to forget what they had learned during the school year before the summer vacation. My $0.02 will be to shorten the summer vacation to maybe 7 to 8 weeks and maybe reduce the school day by an hour. Kids in middle school and high school have to spend long hours on their studies during school days, this will ease up their work load a bit.
I am not for it at all. The only thing that needs to be tweaked is kindergarten should be full day statewide.
You have kids that have been to day care and pre k from 2-3 years old then get to kindergarten for what 2 1/2 hours a day??
I don't see a longer school year happening, way too many issues would need to be addressed first.
Year round school plain sucks imo...my kids did that in Colorado and it was like they were in school for 5-6 weeks then had two weeks off real PITA imo
Last edited by njkate; 01-15-2014 at 10:23 AM..
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I would not only be sad for my kids if this is the way things went, I'd also be worried for them. I'd be worried that they wouldn't be able to take advantage of the same opportunities I did in order to become well rounded individuals. I'm curious to hear what others thing about this.
