Kodi Arfer / Wisterwood

Obama wants to shorter vacations, increase time in school for students

Topic List
#001 | Pooty Boy |
Now, instead of me tearing him apart, I'm going to take the highroad on this one (and all future posts) and ask to garner your opinions on the matter.

I don't know exactly what he wants, but from what I understand Barack wants to shorten breaks (mostly summer it seems) and lengthen the amount of time spent in school. He believes this will get our education on par with the rest of the globe.

Now, despite my disdain for the man, I have to objectively say I don't like this idea. More TIME in school won't do anything. It's just wasting time. What American eduction needs is BETTER teachers and BETTER eduction programs. That means better collegiate eduction programs and more rigorous standards for students. For what it's worth, I am absolutely AGAINST "No Student Left Behind". Education needs some changes, but the "time spent" is not the answer. I disagree with you, Mr. President, but I do hope you raise our standards.

Also, summer vacation (and other breaks) is a STAPLE of American childhood. I can't imagine my future children not having it.

Eduction needs to be QUALITY, not QUANTITY.
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#002 | mimir227 |
I AGREE that merely increasing the time students spend in school won't IMPROVE their education. What we could really use is an OVERHAUL of the CURRICULUM.

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#003 | HeyDude |
I AGREE with MIMIR, both in CONTENT and in STYLE.
#004 | UtarEmpire |
Time spent is part of the answer.

One of many anomalies of the American education system is the massive 3-4 month gap between academic years. No one retains anything for that amount of time, unless one is actually making a specific effort to keep information stored properly by retrieving it often - something that, I think, is a bit much to ask of kids over summer vacation. The problems with this gigantic gap between years are twofold: first, it directly reduces contact time overall (meaning kids are, obviously, in school less that European/Asian counterparts) and second, it means that a lot of time is spent re-teaching old material the next year because everyone has, not surprisingly, forgotten everything.

I heard of this initiative a couple of months ago and really hope it passes in one form or another. It's true that this won't be the magic bullet for America's educational woes, but I believe that it's a significant step in the right direction.
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#005 | willis5225 |
It strikes me as a politician's answer--that is, it doesn't address the root of the problem, but is of obvious, flashy consequence--but I guess I AGREE with UTAR that it certainly couldn't HURT.
#006 | Jacehan |
Au contraire, it certainly COULD hurt. Not from the STUDENT side of the thing, but from the TEACHER. Summer vacation is bad for student learning RETENTION, it's true, but vital for teacher SANITY. It's also one of the only ECONOMIC factors that draw good people to the job, since the PAY certainly isn't.
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#007 | Dont Interrupt Me |
Why is everybody YELLING?!!
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#008 | willis5225 |
I would assume, though, that this entire endeavor is partially ECONOMICALLY motivated, and part of a measure to increase the INCOMES of public school TEACHERS, who form a massive SEGMENT of the employed population. Like, it would only make sense if they were paid more. I mean paid MORE.
#009 | Jacehan |
But that would require a HELL of a lot of FUNDING, something the FEDERAL government isn't in the best POSITION to be doing right now, and neither are the STATES. The FED never came through with the MONEY for NCLB which is part of what made is such ****ty legislation.
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#010 | willis5225 |
Yeah, that's why we'll all be OWNED by the CHINESE in a few years' time.
#011 | Jacehan |
Saying OWNED instead of owned completely changes the meaning of that SENTENCE in HILARIOUS ways.
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#012 | HeyDude |
I disaGREE with your TIming of CAPS usage!
#013 | undertaker shy guy |
Back when I was in SCHOOL, I always THOUGHT that I'd be perfectly willing to GIVE UP some of my SUMMER VACATION in exchange for a 4-day school week.

Obviously that won't work for VARIOUS reasons, primarily that it doesn't coincide with the WORK WEEK, but I always liked the SENTIMENT, if you will.
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#014 | Kylo Force |
All these capitalized WORDS make me feel like I'm reading a WALKTHROUGH of an old ADVENTURE GAME.

...or SCRIBBLENAUTS.
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#015 | Ocarinakid2 |
Gotta agree with UTAR. Kids would definitely benefit from a SMALLER summer to help with retention. It's something I've heard a lot from teachers, but to be fair to Jace, these were adults with spouses and a pretty secure life, at the time. I'm not really SURE how you could make it work for most teachers, though. Maybe a four DAY week would be less grueling? More one or two week breaks throughout the year?

Also gotta agree with Pooty and Mimir, in the sense that bigger changes are still needed. Still, can't hurt. Shaving a month off of summer isn't going to kill the joy of being a child.
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#016 | UtarEmpire |
It's like we're all trying to hold a DEBATE as characters written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS.
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#017 | Jacehan |
What I don't UNDERSTAND is why everyone ARGUING about this seems to think that SUMMER VACATION is THREE or FOUR MONTHS. It's TWO MONTHS. 2 1/2 on the outside.
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#018 | UtarEmpire |
It's close to THREE MONTHS on average, Jace. And even two months is a SIGNIFICANT period of time definitely contributes to LACK of RETENTION.
As for TEACHER SANITY, I think it ought to be made up for by the fact that teachers would be getting salaried for an EXTRA MONTH in the YEAR. Surely that would be COMPENSATION enough?
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#019 | Jacehan |
HARDLY. This year had a particularly LONG summer break and it was ONLY 2.5 months. Perhaps it is LONGER in other states?

And yes, TWO MONTHS is still a long time, I'm just trying to wonder about those people who are SUGGESTING cutting it down to two months, as I'm all "WHAT?"

Extra COMPENSATION would require extra funding, something schools don't have.

ALSO, cutting summer vacation means cutting the time for SUMMER SCHOOL, which often means those kids who FALL BEHIND are more likely to STAY BEHIND.

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#020 | FoxMetaI |
stop it
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#021 | PaperSpock |
I'm not sure how PRACTICAL this would be in REALITY, but perhaps a good COMPROMISE would be to take SUMMER and WINTER break, and make them the same length, which would be the length of the TWO averaged making for the SAME number of days out of SCHOOL.
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#022 | mimir227 |
I can believe that a shorter summer break is NECESSARY for real retention, but it surely isn't SUFFICIENT. Consider that most subjects in school (AMERICAN school, anyway) aren't taught incrementally— or at least, the CONCEPTUAL LADDER rarely extends past a single academic year. TENTH-GRADERS don't remember what they learned in NINTH-GRADE HISTORY largely because THEY'RE NOT USING THE INFORMATION ANY MORE. They wouldn't retain it any better if they spent more time learning history. So I'm going to say that while it's better for vacations to be more diffusely distributed throughout the year, tweaking vacations won't accomplish anything so long as curricula are still BONEHEADED.

As for the CURRENT length of summer break, I, like JACE, always had breaks of roughly two months while I was in public school. I never had a three-month summer vacation until I advanced to COLLEGE.

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#023 | mimir227 |
From: FoxMetaI | Posted: 9/28/2009 2:19:59 PM | #020
stop it

You're just JEALOUS because your SHIFT KEY is BROKEN.

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#024 | GMTELigence |
We had a similar FAD at the ACSB where at the end of each POST people would reply with "or I'll make your LIFE a living HELL!!!!"
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#025 | willis5225 |
From: Power of 3 | #024
We had a similar FAD at the ACSB where at the end of each POST people would reply with "or I'll make your LIFE a living HELL!!!!"

I find this ACCUSATION to be PLAUSIBLE.
#026 | willis5225 |
I hate you. I meant to QUOTE that MIMIR post above yours.
#027 | GMTELigence |
Your HATRED is duly NOTED.
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#028 | Pooty Boy |
:(
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#029 | Jacehan |
Don't be SAD, Brandon.
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#030 | Pooty Boy |
I was TRYING to POST a topic about BARACK without being MAD so you GUYS would have the ABILITY to see that I could POST about HIM civilly.

But not I SEE that I was just RIDICULED instead...
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#14 Georgia Bulldogs Football: 3-1; Next Game vs. LSU Tigers
New York Giants Football: 3-0; Next Game @ Kansas City Chiefs
#031 | Jacehan |
Ridiculed? HARDLY. We all had a very REASONABLE discussion and no one said anything DISPARAGING about your first post, we're just putting a JOVIAL SPIN on a serious topic in the STANDARD PMSian way.
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#032 | willis5225 |
Yeah, I'd say we took this beyond its natural THRESHOLD for actually being a joke some TIME ago. Perhaps the FIRST few posts could've been taking a shot at you, but now it's just ABSURD.
#033 | PaperSpock |
INDEED.
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#034 | UtarEmpire |
Besides, I gave a SERIOUS answer after the fad went underway and looked like a PRAT because of it.
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