Extending the school day and ending Summer vacation

[John Sjhepard]

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2013/08/07-end-summer-vacation-longer-school-year-chingos

Would you be in favor of extending the school day and ending Summer vacation?

I oppose this. I'd hate to take away awesome experiences away in the name of increasing test scores.

Why would we rob our children of amazing opportunities like this?

And especially this?

Not every student who participates in an athletic activity does it through their school. Heard of competitive cheerleading?

If you are going to do this extended school day and no Summer vacation you better be willing to pay for each Jr High and High School setting up extra athletic teams and cadet units.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Most of the stuff they teach in highschool is non-applicable later on unless you have a specific career related to them. Until they start teaching applicable things in the amount of time they already have available I don't think they need much more. I think removing the summer vacation would ultimately create more stress and make people less motivated.

Yea. I agree. I think the curriculum needs to return to the basics for which schools were originally established in the first place.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

it shouldn't be mandatory for students to learn about parabolas

The whole point isn't just learning how to plot them, because it's a given not many students will go on to need to know how to do that for a career; the point is is that you learn how to do them, which improves the brain, and it helps to teach logical thinking. We teach science not because everyone will have to know how to identify molecular structures, but because it teaches a logical and systematic approach to solving problems, and so students know something about the world. History is taught not because everyone is going to have to know it to write an article in a history journal, but because it's good to know history, and it gives us so much precedence to look at for contemporary issues. As for art, that is indeed very much a part of the culture class that you mentioned, and it can give you a deeper appreciation of art because life isn't just facts and logic.

 

[Deathbydefault]

I see middle-high school as a way to raise a kid to the general education level of the country.
Or at least that's what I'd like to say.

With schools the way they are now, the only kids getting any real education are the ones in private schools.
And depending on who runs the private school, even that education is splotchy.

It would be much more efficient to bring everyone up to the same level of education during middle school.
After middle school they should be taken through all different kinds of things.
All different forms of science, business, language, arts, etc etc.
This would be a way to transfer them from general education that they normally get all the way until college,
to specific education so that they have an idea as to what they want to do with their lives before even going to college.

Along with that, there should still be general education classes in high school, but they should be more helpful.
Teach the kids how to write a check, properly use a credit card, find a decent living space, budget, stay in health...
Identify logical fallacies.... Damn, wouldn't that be nice?

 

[BenTheBeliever]

I think summer vacation is needed IMO. It helps being able to take time off during the days. Imagine if a school air conditioner stop working. Would you want your kids being stuck their in the hot? I would not

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I think summer vacation is needed IMO. It helps being able to take time off during the days. Imagine if a school air conditioner stop working. Would you want your kids being stuck their in the hot? I would not

It wouldn't bother my [hypothetical non-existent] kids were stuck at school without an air conditioner. For one, it's rarely turned on at home, and two, it's not like you get to go home from work if they air conditioner stops (assuming you're lucky enough to be working at a place that has a working air condition and one that you can feel). And because I myself went to school on days when the air conditioner was broke. It wasn't that bad.

 

[SomeRandom]

I think summer vacation is needed IMO. It helps being able to take time off during the days. Imagine if a school air conditioner stop working. Would you want your kids being stuck their in the hot? I would not

Lol you should try that argument over in Oz mate!

Our Summer is during the last semester of our school year. And I went to a public school. Which meant sweltering in the heat of a classroom unless you were lucky enough to get booked into one of our computer rooms. Which wasn't a guarantee unless the teacher couldn't hack the heat which was pretty rare, or you legitimately needed them. So maths was always in the hot classroom, but Tourism, English, SOSE or History you might strike it lucky and spend the lesson nice and cool Then you prayed to any or all deities for the public bus you caught on the way home to be one of the new ones with air con (which again wasn't exactly a guarantee but you sometimes got lucky.) That or you ducked down the shops for free air con.

Of course if the day got up to something insane like 45 degrees Celsius (roughly 113 degrees Fahrenheit) school was cancelled for the day. But that's Queensland and 45 degrees is actually pretty normal for other parts of Australia so I have no idea how those ******** cope during summer.

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Lol you should try that argument over in Oz mate!

Our Summer is during the last semester of our school year. And I went to a public school. Which meant sweltering in the heat of a classroom unless you were lucky enough to get booked into one of our computer rooms. Which wasn't a guarantee unless the teacher couldn't hack the heat which was pretty rare, or you legitimately needed them. So maths was always in the hot classroom, but Tourism, English, SOSE or History you might strike it lucky and spend the lesson nice and cool Then you prayed to any or all deities for the public bus you caught on the way home to be one of the new ones with air con (which again wasn't exactly a guarantee but you sometimes got lucky.) That or you ducked down the shops for free air con.

Of course if the day got up to something insane like 45 degrees Celsius (roughly 113 degrees Fahrenheit) school was cancelled for the day. But that's Queensland and 45 degrees is actually pretty normal for other parts of Australia so I have no idea how those ******** cope during summer.

You must live in a deal bad ghetto area then. I went to public school as well.

 

[SomeRandom]

You must live in a deal bad ghetto area then. I went to public school as well.

Nope suburbs. Public Schools just get ****ty funding. Which is kind of ironic because the education you get is more or less the same as Private Schools over here.
That and most kids are used to the heat by at least grade 4. So.......

 

[BenTheBeliever]

It wouldn't bother my [hypothetical non-existent] kids were stuck at school without an air conditioner. For one, it's rarely turned on at home, and two, it's not like you get to go home from work if they air conditioner stops (assuming you're lucky enough to be working at a place that has a working air condition and one that you can feel). And because I myself went to school on days when the air conditioner was broke. It wasn't that bad.

It depends on how hot it gets.

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Nope suburbs. Public Schools just get **** funding. Which is kind of ironic because the education you get is more or less the same as Private Schools.

I grew up poor and our public schools were not as bad as you make them sound.

 

[SomeRandom]

I grew up poor and our public schools were not as bad as you make them sound.

I didn't realize not having an air con was bad. Like to use an oft used colloquialism harden up mate. Like seriously you never played in the heat of summer as a kid? Never went to the pool or the beach during summer? Come on, kids are pretty resilient little tykes. It's really not that bad to have no air con for a few hours. Unless you have a medical condition it won't harm you.

 

[BenTheBeliever]

I didn't realize not having an air con was bad. Like to use an oft used colloquialism harden up mate. Like seriously you never played in the heat of summer as a kid? Never went to the pool or the beach during summer? Come on, it's really not that bad.

Yes I used to. Personally I can't be out in the heat anymore. I have fibromlygia and even evening out there for just five minutes hurts me real bad

 

[SomeRandom]

Yes I used to. Personally I can't be out in the heat anymore. I have fibromlygia and even evening out there for just five minutes hurts me real bad

Well it makes my blood pressure drop to pretty dangerous levels so I'm with you on not being able to be in the heat anymore. As a tot though would play in the heat until the sun went down and then stayed out longer. Strange how much more resilient we seem to be as kids, eh?

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Well it makes my blood pressure drop to pretty dangerous levels so I'm with you on not being able to be in the heat anymore. Strange how much more resilient we seem to be as kids, eh?

Yes of course it can be bad for kids as well though

 

[SomeRandom]

Yes of course it can be bad for kids as well though

Maybe. But we all survived just fine. Besides if a kid legitimately can't be in the heat, then they'd probably be used as an excuse by the rest of the class to stay in the air con rooms at school. At least that's what we would have done. But really it was the humidity that really does you in over here. Even rainy days can be hot because of that.

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Maybe. But we all survived just fine. Besides if a kid legitimately can't be in the heat, then they'd probably be used as an excuse by the rest of the class to stay in the air con rooms at school. At least that's what we would have done. But really it was the humidity that really does you in over here. Even rainy days can be hot because of that.

It gets bad over as well. It gets in the 100's in the summer time

 

[SomeRandom]

It gets bad over as well. It gets in the 100's in the summer time

Sorry had to get a converter. Yes it gets the same over here. Even higher than that in WA and NT where my relies live. I'm surprised they haven't melted yet lol!!

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Sorry had to get a converter. Yes it gets the same over here. Even higher than that in WA and NT where my relies live. I'm surprised they haven't melted yet lol!!

I live in OK. Summer can be a real witch

 

[SomeRandom]

I live in OK. Summer can be a real witch

I hear ya! During summer I tend to try to hide in my work's fridge.