'The case against summer vacation'

And what the 12th player on the end of the Clippers' bench does is probably less important than what a teacher does. But he gets $854,389 for it.

Your point?

 

But the Clipper players tax bill probably pays for the salary of a teacher so he may be higher in pecking order.

 

I have been saying for years now that through Grade 12 should attend until August.
One week of vacation in late May, one week vacation the week of July 4th and wrap things up for summer break the entire month of August. Then back to school the first week after Labor Day.

 

The other thing is that while the shrinking rural population means less kids being called out to the field -- although I grew up in a village where 80 per cent of the kids were bussed in and lived on farms -- that does mean there are a growing number of kids that are looking for summer jobs in the city. That two or three months off could mean the difference to a lot of kids if they can or cannot afford to go to college or university. Sure for the elementary and junior high kids they probably enjoys their time and go a little brain dead over the summer -- although I know my cousins that lived in Chicago always had a reading list for the summer, don't know how strictly that was enforced by the schools -- those months off are still valuable earning months for other kids.
Hell I know I wouldn't have been able to afford things like playing hockey or college had I not worked every summer since Grade 8, and I know I am not alone.

 

Let's not give credit where none is due.

1. Year-round school is not a new idea.
2. Discussion about the need and means to improve public education has been nonstop during my lifetime.

 

My nephew attends a year-round school. My stepsister is convinced it's "better" than the others in the district due to test scores, but I keep pointing out that its very nature as a parent-choice school means it has more actively involved parents, which is the #1 factor in student success.

The schools in suburban areas haven't hit on a magic formula that rural and urban schools haven't hit on. Private schools aren't miles better than their neighbors because of their instructional practices. Homeschooling isn't the fast-track to being a Rhodes Scholar James Dobson claims it is.

The reason school reform efforts often never work (and there's always new ones) is because they're misguided. When kids fail, the SCHOOL gets blamed. It's a blame-shifting game. It's no secret that the most-motivated students come from families where education is important, and the least-motivated come from families where they are not pushed by their parents, read to at home, et al, and are inclined to see school as a waste of time.

It is due to our egalitarian nature that we give everyone a chance, but the problem is, we expect the same results out of everybody. That will never happen. In nations where the education is allegedly stronger than it is in the U.S., the onus of accountability is on the STUDENT. If the student passes, the student is praised. If the student fails, the student is shamed, gets a worse job, gets stuck in a worse secondary school, et al. There is no blaming the school -- the instruction is generally believed to be similar across the board. Our culture is one of making sure Jimmy and Julie have their self-esteem stroked all the time, so if they come home with a 0.9 GPA, the school must not be teaching them hard enough. Never mind that Jimmy hasn't turned in a homework assignment since the new version of Call of Duty came out, or Julie spends all of her waking hours at her boyfriend's house, where they're doing anything but studying.

That's why school reform efforts won't work.

And, as long as I'm working 180 days, I could really care less when they are.

 

I get the same retirement package as the Governor and his cronies in my state. I think it's safe.

 

Anybody who has not had to save for retirement cannot, under any definition, be called "vastly underpaid." Ever.

 

There is a line between students not doing work at home and students not being able to do work at home.

You reference Call of Duty coming out and a student not doing work. What might be more relevant is dad losing his job and that having a greater effect on what can and cannot be done at home regarding school.

A school has a student for about 6.5 hours a day of instruction. If they are giving more than 20-30 minutes a night for homework, you need to ask what exactly was being done in those 6.5 hours. Everyone can do 20-30 minutes (homeroom is a good time if you do not have it at home).

All kids want to do well when they start the school year. Some become frustrated over time.

 

Year-round school will only increase the gap between my kid, his two Asian friends when you compare them with the other 22 students in his 3rd grade class.

 

Stop trying to interject reason into a discussion about public education.
Think of the children!

 

That's really bullshit because again, my brother is a teacher and you can't tell me what he does is better than what I do for a living. Does he help people? Yeah I suppose he does. But I'm in the service industry too. I may not be teaching people, but don't tell me because I'm not a teacher I don't have a rewarding career. Most of those teachers, and we all know some of them, are only in it for the vacations and the hours anyway.

Besides, year-round school wouldn't work where I came from because it would be too hot in the school and the district can't afford AC.