[Ender's Mom]

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13825184&source=most_commented

Basically the article is comparing the amount of time America's children are in school compared to other countries. Both in # of school days per year and hours per day of class time.

I thought it was interesting.

 

[myfavoritedog]

I think the article is right on the money. When I taught in high school, it was more like the kids were there to do extracurricular activities than schoolwork. We (and it was a private school) teachers were encouraged to get stuff done in class so students would have minimal homework outside of class.

Once these kids get to college, they are appalled that we expect them to do much of their work outside of class. They also have the idea if they work hard, that will automatically get then an A or a B in a course. They cannot seem to equate that tests, etc, are to measure how much they learn, and therefore is the basis for their grades, not how hard they work. You have to know the material in order to make a good grade. What a novel idea.

 

[Princess Zoe]

I think kids should get to be kids. They have the rest of their lives to work. School is their job, they too deserve a break.

 

[Ender's Mom]

I think kids should get to be kids. They have the rest of their lives to work. School is their job, they too deserve a break.

Did you read the article? I'm just curious.

The way the current school schedule is now isn't so "kids can be kids"... it is based off the old system where kids needed to be off in the summer and get done with school early in the day so they could go back home to the farm... and work.

 

[Princess Zoe]

Did you read the article? I'm just curious.

The way the current school schedule is now isn't so "kids can be kids"... it is based off the old system where kids needed to be off in the summer and get done with school early in the day so they could go back home to the farm... and work.

Yes I did. I think they need a break in the Summer. I understand about the reason for the schedule in the past.

 

[Golfgirlrobin]

Interesting article. I certainly don't doubt that it's all true and not very likely to change. I'm watching my nieces and nephew graduate high school with 4.0 averages and the amount of work they do outside of class is really minimal. Additionally, my brother has always taken them out of class for vacations because everything is so crowded during regular vacation time; I doubt you'd be seeing that in Korea or Japan.

I did think it was fairly ridiculous to even try to equate the summer camp lobby with teacher's unions. There is simply no comparison either in numbers or finances.

 

[dweck]

Good luck going up against a teachers' union, incredibly strong and resolute. Which is not to say I don't feel an awful lot of teachers are underpaid and overworked. But then again, so are a lot of hospital nurses, literacy volunteers, medical researchers....

 

[Wendy]

I think kids should get to be kids. They have the rest of their lives to work. School is their job, they too deserve a break.

Don't complain when future jobs are shipped overseas when the "kids" of today can't keep up educationally. Sorry but that doesn't fly. Kids have lots of time to be kids, sometimes too much time. Not enough time at school is devoted to academics, especially if you averaged out the amount of time in the classroom that is spent on academics. I dunno, I think the education system needs to be revamped to keep up w/ other countries. Kids can be kids and have free time but they don't need 5 to 6 hrs on a computer playing games to be considered being a kid.

 

[Ender's Mom]

^ This

 

[Princess Zoe]

Why do I even bother?

 

[Nick]

Excellent article. I never realized the disparity between AP level courses and regular courses until I substitute taught while getting my masters. I hated my parents at the time, but all the AP level courses I took really did help prepare me for college. We had lots of outside work, I even had an AP Organic Chemistry teacher assign homework over Spring Break. Looking back, it still wasn't that much work (compared to, say, college or law school), and I still had time to be a kid.

Invariably, when I substituted for a non-AP course, they showed a movie. AP teachers either had their kids to practice exams or problems. Even little stuff like that is bound to make a difference over the course of 4 years. I'd rather have had a little extra work then, and more options later.

 

[Ender's Mom]

Why do I even bother?

I think the problem with the long summer break is that so much is forgotten in that time. If we had the same # of school hours but spread out during the year so kids were learning somewhat more "constantly", it would be a more efficient use of their time (and ours... wonder how much money is spent on re-teaching the same stuff every year)

 

[Wendy]

Why do I even bother?

Oops I'm sorry I guess I forgot to agree with you. Seriously go sit in a classroom for a couple of weeks and tell me how you feel. I work there every day so I feel I have a bit of knowledge when it comes to this. You would not believe how much time is spent on re-teaching last year's education before we can move onto new stuff. You wouldn't believe how many times class is disrupted due to behaviors and such.

 

[Labs4life]

What the article doesn't state is the value that American parent's place on education as compared to other nations.

School should just be the catalyst to a child's education with the bulk of learning experience coming from the parents. It's not necessarily about lazy kids more often lazy parents.

We spent hours with the kids going over homework and the days lessons. We made their education priority one. Many of our vacations had an educational element to them. It is easy to incorporate a little learning with a little fun and the kids didn't really know they were learning.

My parents raised me this way and I in turn raised my girls this way. If parents aren't involved in their child's education then 10 hour days 300 days a year won't help much.

 

[Di]

Don't complain when future jobs are shipped overseas when the "kids" of today can't keep up educationally. Sorry but that doesn't fly. Kids have lots of time to be kids, sometimes too much time. Not enough time at school is devoted to academics, especially if you averaged out the amount of time in the classroom that is spent on academics. I dunno, I think the education system needs to be revamped to keep up w/ other countries. Kids can be kids and have free time but they don't need 5 to 6 hrs on a computer playing games to be considered being a kid.

Agree 1000%

 

[Maple1]

Roughly 30 years ago [wow now I feel old] I was in 7/8 grade in Heidelberg, Germany, attending a German school. School was Monday - Saturday, more or less year round. My classes included physics, French, English, and Algerbra. All classes were much more advanced than middle school classes at the school I attended in Texas.

 

[cousin kenny]

USA still rules .

 

[BigBrownDog]

I agree wholeheartedly that American schools are not stringent enough - and yes parents do play a big role in that.

But - when self esteem is a consideration in a grading policy - that is not a good thing. When kids are given a "review" sheet before every test all the way through high school - and the content on the sheet mirrors the test - that is not a good thing. (My sons in college ***** like crazy when they don't get a review before a test - - WTF?) You don't really learn a subject when it only has to sit in your short term memory for a little while before you test.

The long summer break - based on a agrarian societal concept only a minority in the US actually participate in - does waste time and money and holds kids back.

Maple is right - every F1 college student I ever hired was vastly better prepared for college than their American peers. Not to say smarter - they just had much higher expectations placed on them when they were in the equivalent of our K-12.