[...]Keepin’ Them Badass Baybays in School – Jack & Jill Politics[...]…

Certainly year round schools make sense overall, as does extended care after school (age appropriate, which would include different activities for kids as they got older, and should also be interest-based–sports, theatre, etc)–we are not a primarily agricultural society any longer and the bulk of parents work (you can still be an involved parent, but at 40 hours a week there's only so much you can do to supervise kids left with excessive amounts of free time)…I just want to echo some of the earlier comments regarding the state of schools in America today, and contemplate what the overall positive impact really would be in having kids stay longer in a possibly dysfunctional setting.

Certainly year round schools make sense overall, as does extended care after school (age appropriate, which would include different activities for kids as they got older, and should also be interest-based–sports, theatre, etc)–we are not a primarily agricultural society any longer and the bulk of parents work (you can still be an involved parent, but at 40 hours a week there's only so much you can do to supervise kids left with excessive amounts of free time)…I just want to echo some of the earlier comments regarding the state of schools in America today, and contemplate what the overall positive impact really would be in having kids stay longer in a possibly dysfunctional setting.

Don't get me wrong, this one competition was not an educational “silver bullet”. Sure, as there were many kids who were greatly inspired and motivated by the challenge of the competition, there were just as many who remained totally disinterested and aloof.
Those kids who became inspired and motivated by the involvement of business groups and college mentors in their education, went on later to become leaders in their chosen fields for decades. Many of these yougsters were responsible for the many key innovations that we enjoy in America today. This is the primary reason that we must answer this most important question first, “What is it that our students want for their future, and what are their interests?”

you better wake up!

“Honestly, I don't even think kids will MISS summer vacations, and if they are in school longer/year round that means they don't have 3 months each year to get caught up in something they have no business doing.”

Many (a majority by my thinking) schools are in session a lot longer than we all were as kids (I'm 39). School ended May 29th and started back August 6th this year. That's only 2 months, and it seemed really quick when you try to let them go to camp, and visit relatives they don't normally get to see. Add in doctor, dental, and other stuff and summer is not really a summer for the kids LIKE IT WAS FOR US.

As far as the kids needing to go on vacation so they can spend time with their families, well their parents are probably still working (if they have a job) during the summer meaning the family only takes an actual “vacation” for about a week. When I was growing up my parents both worked full time year round, we spent the days over our Grandma's house because she was a teacher's aid and also had summers off and it was convenient to drop us off on their way to work (one summer she took us to Tennessee to visit some family for about a month or so) or in day care. I don't think kids need three months off, in that time they forget stuff and they probably aren't having any real intellectual stimulation.

Honestly, I don't even think kids will MISS summer vacations, and if they are in school longer/year round that means they don't have 3 months each year to get caught up in something they have no business doing.

I don't think making the school day longer will really do much, I agree with Sarah2010 that there should be more after school/extra curricular activities for the kids to do so they have somewhere to hang until their parents get off work if there isn't a Rec Center in their neighborhood. That's going to require bigger budgets though, there's a school in Southwestern Ohio right now that can't get a levy passed which means sports were cut this year (I think they are starting a pay to play for this year), and I think they stopped bussing too. So it's going to cost more money in education for the administration do make the changes it wants to make. While money won't FIX all of the problems, it will make it a lot easier for school districts to fix those problems.

I will advoacte longer school days when:

REAL curriculum is used that includes math, science lab, music, English, theater, sports, foreign language, grammar(!), home economics (call it “bachelor living” – I don't care what it's called — Old fashioned? Yes, but much needed. Teach these kids how to balance a check book and make a meal), shop or automotive technology, graphic/web design,

higher salaries are in place for the good PROFESSIONALLY CERTIFIED TEACHERS (ditch the placeholder/burnt out ones…) and support staff (principals, aides, etc) that actually want to engage students,

school locations are physically accessible and have wi-fi access and computers available to

Teacher certification standards are raised to a level of excellence that ALL students, including the blind, autistic, dyslexic, paraplegic, deaf and medically complex ones, deserve.

Given all of that, yeah, I'll happily support longer school days.

Let's work toward THAT!!

Longer school days are effective in good schools. Look at KIPP schools and other charter schools that do longer days and weekend classes.

Kids also need after school things to do as well. They need outlets that are constructive. I hated the after-school activity requirement my “ritzy private school” had, but now I know why and I'm appreciative. Aside from all that I learned from doing a team sport as well as doing community service, I was also given an opportunity to explore areas of my interests that wouldn't be addressed in a classroom in a supportive and constructive way.

But as others have and will point out, I had a home life that encouraged it as well. We have schools out there aiming to address that issue by being urban boarding schools, only accepting students within a certain radius of the city.

Kids need something. Getting out at 2:45 with probably 2-3 hrs, if not more, to wait before their parents are home, IF their parents are home is not working. We have got to quit being so resistant to change.

And this is where education fails us. A fair question to ask is why the so-called “good schools” have absolutely no interest in getting the word out to “bad school” parents about what it takes to make a good school. In other words, parents who aren't engaged with their kids' education needs, usually don't know how to get engaged. And that's where the “good school” communities can help. But they don't and they won't.

But a longer school day means nothing to the drop-out-turned-home-invader/urban terrorist.

i have a bit of experience working with urban schools, and if you think i'm being polemical (as i doubt most here do) you're wrong. urban education is more akin to the prison experience than anything else, these days. and that's on purpose. fwiw, it's hardly any better in many rural or even wealthy suburban districts. students are assumed to have no rights, no worthy thoughts, no moral and ethical systems…we treat them like prisoners with no rights or independence at all.

like some other folks here, i too got to go to a ritzy private school, and not so good public school, over the course of my secondary education. here's the difference i noted: in ritzy private schools, their whole justification for being (and charging 15K$/yr tuition) is “our students get into good colleges.” and that's mostly true; the school i attended used the marketing ploy “100% college acceptance for our graduates.” but don't kid yourself, our admins were just as overly concerned with what we did off campus as any zealot-moralist dissembling about the need for uniforms in public schools. the difference was simply that wealthy, privileged kids has better resources to cover up the inevitable excesses that come with being a teen.

my point is that school is only *one* place out of many in which a child receives an education. the home is the primary place where learning actually happens. instead of focusing on ways to keep kids chained to desks all year round, let's get back to talking about the #1 factor in a child's educational success: PARENTS. study after study demonstrates that parental involvement determines what path a child will take in school, and beyond. help the parents be better parents, via social programs and economic opportunity, and students will be better students.

i am so down on institutional education in this country today, that if i had a child, i'd homeschool them. really, i think most schools are such places of horror on so many levels, even the “good” schools, i fear for all the children who are subjected to them.

We have turned schools into prisons. Kids are chained to their desks…being taught to pass the tests. Creative and critical thinking is not encouraged. Kids don't need more of that…now if you are going to include more of the arts in education and change the method of instruction to something more Socratic then make the day longer…but kids don't need anymore of the mind numbing, dumbing down stuff that they are going through now.