Posted on 12/08/2007 8:08:26 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
American Federation of Teachers president Edward J. McElroy today proposed extending the school year into the summer in order to provide intensive instruction and enriching out-of-classroom activities for the nation’s most vulnerable K-3 students.
(Excerpt) Read more at aft.org ...
If an institution is doing something wrong, they can get different results by doing for a longer period of time, he says. Does that even make sense?
Throw some more money at it, that’ll fix it.
If schools used "instructional methods proven to be effective" the rest of the year, then maybe there wouldn't be any struggling students.
Very true. The disastrous “whole word” reading instruction is one glaring example, though there are many others.
Oh dogpoopy!
All some of these nutso lib teachers want is more pay for doing the same old thing.
That said, I am the proud parent of a teacher who works an 80 hour week to try to reach as many teachable students as she can, and she hates the NEA. Her district is so fed up with them, that they will no longer go to the annual convention!
There are many dedicated teachers who do not support this leftist organization. They need our support.
There needs to be an affordable private conservative alternative school available in every community.
Controversial subjects outside the scope of academic preparedness will be bound in informational guidence packets and mailed to parents to share with their children at their discretion.
Just a dream.
The left has been dictating public school curricula and policy for two generations and the result is a disaster. It’s beyond time to clean house.
What's that definition of insanity? Keep on doing the same thing expecting different results?
Putting little children who aren't ready for formal, structured education in that situation for longer periods of time, isn't going to make them ready for it any faster or sooner.
I agree with Drs. Moore and Moore of *Better Late than Early* that school is inflicted on children way too early and that many of the educational problems they face at that age would be non-existent if they started school when they were physically ready.
Of course, a whole class of educrats (special ed) would have no way to justify the majority of their existence if kids weren't labeled from an early age on.
Yeah, like concentrating on teaching them just to read and calculate first.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Such a good point! Probably too “easy” for them to even see though... Instead of sticking with the tried and true methods used for decades with excellent results, school administrators and teachers nowadays seem to keep wanting to reinvent the wheel...
If anything these children are probably getting burned out on “busy work”, and “summer school” is NOT going to help with THAT. Like someone else already mentioned some of these children are being pushed too soon, when they (or their brains) are not mature enough to handle some of these things. Each child is different and some do better when they are allowed to mature at their own pace — not according to some “government standard”...
I have seen this in my own family (we homeschool). My eldest daughter was reading well at the age of 5 while my 3rd oldest didn’t start reading till she was about 8. They are BOTH reading at well above their grade levels now - my eldest at a college level, and my 11 year old at almost a high school level after only 3 years of “practice”... I feel sorry for the children they are forcing these things on who are not ready. It makes for a very frustrated young child, and one whose self-esteem is going to be taking “hits” constantly... (You’d think with all the focus on “self-esteem” in our schools this is something they might realize... UGH... Very frustrating...).
“If you really want to help all students and save money, the schools should be open all year.”
Why? Those who home educate get better results than the government schools and spend much less time in doing so.
I have a better idea: give generous tax deductions to those who home educate and to those who send their kids to private school.
When there is a thread about home schooling then I will comment on that. However, as to the above sentence, it is correct about 30% of the time are less.
Do you have a source for that statistic?
Do you have a source for your statement? What is it? Did I attribute it to anyone other than myself.
I noticed the same with my three children. At age five, our eldest was reading college level textbooks. (No exaggeration!) At age five, our middle child couldn't read at all. I was in a panic. It never dawned on me that he was the normal one. ;-) Now, at age 10, he reads well enough, and I realize there was nothing to worry about. Now I'm not in a panic over our youngest who is age six. As it turns out, there's a benefit to reading later. With our eldest, we were always afraid of what he would read. And is it really necessary to read "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" at age six? I found myself withholding books from him knowing that he could read them, but also knowing that he really wouldn't fully appreciate them. His younger brothers were/are able to enjoy innocent picture books much longer.
Maybe I misunderstood your post. It appears you’re presenting a statistic of 30%. I’m merely asking for the source. Or, perhaps you’re basing your opinion on personal experience?
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