What is Digg?237 Comments
- psolms, on 07/19/2009, -2/+105the best is the 'caption' for the picture.
FTA: "A girl writing on a chalkboard wearing a swimming suit."
oh! thats what that was. i thought it was a man riding a t-rex playing a banjo. - Sakumi, on 07/19/2009, -1/+101Maybe we need to work on the curriculum before wasting more of our youth's time?
Schools educate to the lowest common denominator - this is our real problem. - grinsy, on 07/19/2009, -2/+98Children need more active participation from their parents, not more time in institutionalized kid farms. It's tragic that it's gotten to the point where parent's and society now have to place the responsiblity for their children's future entirely in the hands of the bureaucracy. It should not be a mystery to these parents why their children, in their abandonment, foster resentment toward them, and act accordingly.
Government should help in supporting the parents with programs that encourage them to be more involved in their children's development, especially those suffering under harsh conditions of poverty. - Sakumi, on 07/19/2009, -2/+78It is when they're completely wasting the students' time trying to prop up the under-achievers.
- katieface, on 07/19/2009, -20/+86***** that! If you're a complete moron you should have to go to summer school. Don't punish every one for a few kids that don't pay attention during the school year.
- mhf03, on 07/19/2009, -3/+65***** that *****. Im in college now, but I don't want to see summer taken away from future generations. School is long enough as it is already. And once you enter the workforce you aren't going to have months of vacation to look forward to again for the rest of your life until you retire. Cold hearted bastards.
And just because you graduate and finish everything earlier doesn't mean youre going to get a nice long break. Youre going to be expected to go right into the workforce. - mapyqf, on 07/19/2009, -1/+62Quality, not quantity. Kids won't do better in school by subjecting them to more hours in the same ineffective system.
- alamedaman, on 07/19/2009, -7/+67how about you have good teachers instead of union-protected ***** ones who don't give a ***** about kids?
- ileftfark, on 07/19/2009, -1/+60How about focusing on getting our nation's children a better education during the time they are currently going to school? Nah, we'll just make 'em go more!
- inactive, on 07/19/2009, -2/+58Oh good, let's expand the soul-crushing, creativity-stomping education system. That should fix all problems.
- JoshDelvin, on 07/19/2009, -4/+57The problem with education is the absurd discrepancy between administrators and teachers. Admins in my old school district used to make >100K while top teachers were scrounging at 50K. That just doesn't make sense from an accountability point of view. As such, the quality of teachers decreases and students are hurt.
- elnerdo, on 07/19/2009, -8/+49I agree so wholeheartedly. However, something to consider: I worked in the summer during high school. This would take away that opportunity (I also worked after school during the school year, and a longer school day would take away that opportunity, too).
- crashbang, on 07/19/2009, -17/+51Its not actually punishment to be in school.
- DirtyVicar, on 07/19/2009, -1/+33Not me... I enjoyed every one of my 12 weeks off. As far as addressing the lack of education from the summer vacations, more classroom quality, higher teacher salaries, and better materials rather than "nose to the grindstone with more hours" would be the real solution.
- Wisgary, on 07/19/2009, -0/+30Um, if you work hard now, you just go into the working world, and then really don't have fun. Seriously.
- inactive, on 07/19/2009, -0/+29How I miss summers where I didn't have to do anything besides ride bikes and blow stuff up.
- Akairenn, on 07/19/2009, -4/+31@crashbang:
You clearly haven't been in school any time in the last thirty years. At present, schools - middle and high school at the least - are nothing more than prisons of varying securities, to stuff children in until they're eighteen.
@JYoungest1:
Sure, tell me that when people know the difference between their asses and Admiral Lord Nelson. Knowledge is certainly invaluable; you'll also find that your ability to increase it expands exponentially once you're - you know, out of school. (College doesn't count - that's kind of what education should be at *all* levels, damn it. :p) - spriggig, on 07/19/2009, -2/+28Don't buy into this *****. It's not the amount of time at school, it's the quality.
Also, work to live, don't live to work. - spriggig, on 07/19/2009, -0/+25Right there with you but...really? You think you'll get to retire?
- nubnub, on 07/19/2009, -2/+26***** that
- gozroth, on 07/19/2009, -3/+27I think adults worry too much about kids being kids. They'll have to work their asses off until they die, just like the rest of us. Let them enjoy being young!
- BottledViolence, on 07/19/2009, -0/+21Just look at what these schools focus on. If its a program for the learning disabled or dropouts, it gets money thrown at it while the "gifted" got a different math book. Many of those drop outs are not dumb, they're bored. It doesn't matter how long the day or year are if you're wasting it. Most schools just teach to the dumbest kid in class and ignore the rest until they sink to the same level.
- Fythian, on 07/19/2009, -2/+21How the hell are student supposed to make money for college/university if the school year is expanded? When you're little, sure, summer is a long 2 month rest. But when I was in high school, every summer was spent working fulltime so I could afford to go to university (I worked during the school year and through university, too)
Also, you must be prepared to pay teacher's more. I know some people think they're overpayed but isn't teaching one of the most important jobs in the modern world? I'm from a family of teachers and am close to being one myself and if you think their day begins and ends when the students do, you are sadly mistaken. - Pixelante, on 07/19/2009, -1/+19Locking kids up in school, forcing them to slave away instead of enjoying vacations, submitting them to unspeakable emotional stress... Yes, that's an idea I wholeheartedly agree to.
- pixelguru, on 07/19/2009, -0/+17I learned a lot about math, literature and science in school, but on summer break I learned about dirt bikes, camping, exploring, building tree houses, fishing, and being responsible without an adult standing over you. In school, there is always a lesson plan, but during summer recess, children get to decide what they want to learn about. It was during a summer break that I wrote my first computer programs on my Dad's computer (years before my school bought a dozen TRS-80s), and it was during the summer that I refined my drawing and painting skills (nobody treated art class in middle school seriously). Many years later, my career as a web designer has its foundation in these early explorations. I would hate for my children to be deprived of similar opportunities for self-learning and self-growth.
- decapitor, on 07/19/2009, -1/+16Seriously, there are soooo many old/***** teachers who suck up money (of which they get paid more and more every year) and can never be fired.
- mhf03, on 07/19/2009, -0/+15Im hoping so by the time Im 90 if I get to live that long. But Im guaranteed to get some rest when I die.
- Elpants, on 07/19/2009, -0/+15So, who is going to pay to have air conditioning in the schools during hot summer months? There is a serious budget problem as it is. Not to mention teachers needs to be payed more.
It's been over 2 years since I graduated High School, I'm currently a Junior working on my engineering degree. Now that I look back at my time in High School and comparing most of my college professors to my high school teachers, the HS teachers just plain sucked at teaching. It's no wonder I had a hard time trying in High School. My teachers were lazy, administration treated the grounds like a prison. There are much more serious issues at hand than how much time kids spend in a classroom. - Kyrgizion, on 07/19/2009, -0/+14Not to mention this is probably a demographic that already HATES going to school. How are they going to motivate them?
- Munk3y, on 07/19/2009, -0/+14More time in school isn't the answer to ANY of the problems that our public education system faces. To the uninformed, it sure does sound like they're trying hard though, doesn't it?
- ZenMojo, on 07/19/2009, -0/+14Those ***** already stole recess. RECESS! And they wonder why kids are getting fat?
By the way, French kids have year round school but shorter days and more vacations. Maybe the problem is the fact that we don't teach kids anything? In Texas they're rewriting history books to make Billy Graham an influential world leader. For *****'s Sake. - jbcsee, on 07/19/2009, -1/+15Which is exactly how long most summer vacations are in America.
Most schools let out in mid to late June and state back up in mid to late August, that comes out to about 8 weeks. Some districts extend that to 10 weeks and a few to 12 but I've never heard of a break which is that long (except from college but that is not the point under discussion).
As for summer getting boring? WTF was wrong with you! I would hit the door running after breakfast and be upset when my parents said be home by dinner time. On the days I was stuck inside I would just read, play board games and watch TV!
Of course I grew up differently then most, my parents let me play outside un-supervised from the age of about six on. At first it was, "Stay close enough where you can hear me yell for you.", then it was "No further then a mile from the house.", then it was "Don't cross X, Y or Z street". - Dealjobber, on 07/19/2009, -1/+13You do get months of vacation, though. Unemployment.
- heliumflash, on 07/19/2009, -3/+15I support increasing the school year, but not the school day. We should shorten the school day as the 6.5hour day already drains the energy out of our kids. And a tired kid has a hard time paying attention.
"Middle-class kids, they get a lot more learning time outside of school — they get tutors, they get arts programs, they get music programs, they get summer camps.""
Bull *****. Middle class kids don't get tutors, and the majority don't get the other stuff.
Anyway, this entire plan is fail. Instead of addressing the real problem-- ***** teachers and unmotivated students, the government just tries to assume that maybe if we yell louder and longer then the students will start understanding. They won't.
Lucky for me I graduated last year. - MAGZine, on 07/19/2009, -1/+12No.
This is like taking away vacations from fulltime workers: it doesn't make sense. You can't just have year-round school: you'll burn the kids out. You'll have more dropouts, and the year in whole will be much less productive due to the fact that kids don't have a summer of relaxation/refreshment. - Bullislander05, on 07/19/2009, -0/+11As someone who just went through the public education system at a relatively good school and graduated, I have to say that the entire idea of just throwing kids in school for longer periods of time is about as stupid as you can get. The education system today is worthless. The idea is that every child needs to know a certain amount of certain subjects, and the students who genuinely have no interest in those subjects drag the entire system down. Rather, education should focus more on inspiring children to find pleasure in learning about things that interest them. It IS smart to end the DOE as it exists and rework educational systems to focus on making children as productive as they can be outside of school. The whole thing is *****, and it's even ***** that 1. American children consistently do worse than their european counterparts, and 2. that we think crystallized knowledge is more important than the ability to reason and solve problems dynamically. After taking stupid standards of learning tests, I honestly hope that whoever thinks that they are a useful tool for gauging how smart children are just curls up in a ball and dies on the spot.
It's all stupid. Yes, education is vital, but sadly we aren't giving our kids educations. We're giving them a shell of what they should be learning. - inactive, on 07/19/2009, -1/+12I'm out of school, but i think this is a horrible idea.
- davebg8r, on 07/19/2009, -0/+11Start by changing how you make use of the time you do have. Start teaching HOW to think instead of WHAT to think. Once they know how to think, they can and will learn on their own. Unless, of course, you dont really want them to think for themselves.
- Moralogic, on 07/19/2009, -0/+10I don't know about you, but for me high school was a joke. The last 4 years of my "education" before college was *****. They didn't teach anything new since middle school, and half of that was repeating elementary school. So I think it is time to restructure the whole education system if we are going with this idea, it will save more time and money in the long run, plus we can make a far more efficient education system by having classes be more dynamic, and students go to classes they need more, and less in classes they do really good at.
- ousthouse, on 07/19/2009, -0/+10Maybe they should worry about making the 9 months kids are in school more worth while.
- KingBabi, on 07/19/2009, -0/+9I call ***** on your "other countries." Look at Europe: French schools get more vacation throughout the year (2 weeks in October, December, February, and April), albeit a shorter summer vacation (usually July 1 through September 1) and they don't even have class on Wednesday! The UK, Norway, Italy, Germany, etc all have similar systems to the US.
- Volath, on 07/19/2009, -0/+9@JYoungest1
You're getting dug down because you missed the point of katieface's statement. It's totally a punishment to be forced to stay in school longer (not learning anything new) to wait for the slower kids to catch up. - Tarmogoyf, on 07/19/2009, -2/+11It isn't the summers.
It is that we no longer have ability based classes.
The slow kids slow everyone to no avail.
We need to learn to LOVE to fail kids. - MAGZine, on 07/19/2009, -2/+11"Republicans (and demos - same *****) want LIVE babies, so they can raise them to be DEAD soldiers."
George Carlin says it best. - EvelynKillface, on 07/19/2009, -0/+8Exactly the issue I had. I was 'gifted', which meant one day a week in elementary school, I would take the bus to the junior high school down the road to do more advanced work, stuff that was actually interesting. It was great for two years, until suddenly, for no reason that was apparent to a gifted thirteen year old, there simply was no more program. High school proceeded to suck, until I started smoking pot. Then I got bored with school, dropped out, and worked fulltime. Couple years later I went back to look into getting my diploma, and discovered something wonderful - my five years of high school time, and my parents taxes, was worth exactly $475 and about three weekends worth of multiple choice online exams. I'm not even joking - that is what I paid for the correspondence course, which took me less than a month of my SPARE time to finish. And somehow these people think MORE school is going to help?
- jjones20, on 07/19/2009, -0/+8I dont think kids need "more school" and its going to fix them, they need better schooling, increasing the quantity of time at school without increasing the quality seems counter productive to me.
alot of what kids do in high school is just busy work anyway. - FaTPonY, on 07/19/2009, -0/+8You went to a ***** school then. I learnt a lot during high school.
- beachsouthpaw, on 07/19/2009, -0/+8The big problem I see with this is turning American kids into the zombies shipped out by Asian countries, they can do math on a whim but have little ability to find a creative solution to something. I think those summers playing with legos and baseball and running around the street actually help to build creativity.
I say keep the summers but make math education a real priority during the year, none of this softball *****. If a child can't keep up, leave them back, it'll encourage the parents to get involved. And if a teacher can't teach to a satisfactory degree, get rid of them too. Its more about accepting responsibility than putting in longer hours and more days. - Ymeg, on 07/19/2009, -1/+9There is nothing stopping kids from independently studying.
- inactive, on 07/19/2009, -1/+9my entire education before college was way too easy. and it made me grow with the habit of not doing ***** and acing everything. it completely ruined my college education because i was so lazy. my habit of procrastinating had progressed too far.
often times i regret not being given a chance to learn more in those days.
as for elnerdo, how much did you really make while working during the summer? it's not even worth it. also you learn so little from doing menial jobs. all i ever learned from working ***** jobs was that people are ***** jackasses. most of them are lazy ***** who do nothing but want the credit. -
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