Education secretary calls for 12-hour school days, longer school years

The Daily Caller ^ | 07/28/2010 | Paul Conner

[Brugmansian]

“In all seriousness, I think schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year,” Duncan said. “This is not just more of the same. There would be a whole variety of after-school programs. Obviously academics would be at the heart of that. But you top it off with dancing, art, drama, music, yearbook, robotics, activities for older siblings and parents, ESL classes.”

He continued by explaining that the American school calendar is antiquated and must be modified so that American students can compete at the highest levels internationally.

[Cyber Ninja]

good grief

[null and void]

12 hours
12 months
12 years

That’s not too much to ask is it?

[paul51]

Education secretary calls for 12-hour school days, longer school years

they do enough damage in the limited time they have them now. Shut down the DOE

[caseinpoint]

Basically they are talking about daycare for those who want it. Unless they want to require the kids be there at the school to erase the benefits kids with private lessons and tutors get over their peers, which wouldn’t surprise me.

[FrankR]

Mary Madalyn O'Hare, the infamous atheist who too prayer out of schools, proposed this same thing in the early 70's; taking children away from parents at age 6 and putting them in schools....returning them to parents when they graduate at age 18.

We ran a predecessor to today's talk radio on my station, a 30-minute segment entitled "Calls and Comments", and posed the "what do you think" to the listeners. The phones lit up like Christmas trees with irate parents, many thinking it was a done deal.

Later that day, a State congressman called me and wanted to know "what the hell" I had been saying on the air, as hundreds of my listeners were calling him, outraged. I explained the premise that it was just an opinion show, and obviously those folks had misunderstoood that is was just a proposal by that nutcase, O'Hare.

I told him that I taped the whole show, everyday, and would be glad to send him the tape; I did, and never heard another word about it.

But, it showed me how serious and outraged parents can get when you start, or threaten to, mess with their kids.

That is all this longer school days is about...they want to take the kids, throughly brainwash them to be good, lifelong socialist and be worker ants for the dear leader.

Fight this with a passion....

[Psalm 144]

Exactly.

[fieldmarshaldj]

They were turning into Stalinist gulags in the ‘80s, so might as well make it official, right ?

[Brugmansian]

CommieCrates have a well thought-out plan, and are well on their way to implementing, while the GOP Leadership stands on the sidelines being congenial.

The GOP leadership is who conservatives do or not not put in power.

[csense]

They need more time to Modify the notion that the power of government is derived from the people. Communists, all of 'em...

[RitaOK]

Beck ran through the academics learned by the founding fathers. Was it John Quincy Adams who was a secretary to his father while the latter served as ambassador to England.
JQA was eleven. When he was 14 he was a secretary to the ambassador to Russia. The children were spelling five syllable words that you and I can’t pronounce in fourth grade, training with the militia at five.

Puhleeze. They are just looking for reasons to call for our arrests they’re so desperate. This idea can not happen in a free society. We need marxists out of the schools and churches. Period. Problem solved.

[Jedidah]

12 hours a day?

Is this satire?

Does this guy have kids? I’d like to lock him in a classroom of 6th graders for 12 hours. Makes me smile to think about it.

[muddler]

But you top it off with dancing, art, drama, music, yearbook, robotics, activities for older siblings and parents, ESL classes.”

Where the hell's this guy been, they already do all of that and more.

[Mr Rogers]

3 hours a day in a disciplined school would suffice.

24 in the typical public school would not help.

[Freedom56v2]

Really, who needs the nuclear family when kids siblings, parents are in school learning robotics and dancing?!

[dr_who]

Year round schooling doesn’t sound bad to me, but 12 hour school days are nutty.

[Soothesayer9]

"But you top it off with dancing, art, drama, music, yearbook, robotics, activities for older siblings and parents, ESL classes.

And guess who gets to pay for all this fluff. Yes, YOU!

[Clintonfatigued]

I have a co-worker who graduated high school in 1965 and she says the schools when she was in the system.

[eclecticEel]

[Clintonfatigued]

Correction- she says the schools were lousy when she was in the system.

[married21]

If a kid were a product, more time away from home wouldn’t matter. If a kid is someone I have a close personal relationship with, seeing them on weekends isn’t going to cut it. Why bother to have a kid? Why not just watch them on tv?

I don’t mind year-round school, where the breaks are a little shorter, but there are several. However, although increasing the daily time at school may help people who don’t want to pay for “aftercare”, it does change the child and the relationship.

I’ve observed the aftercare kids for several years now, and they do ok, despite lazy care at the YMCA center, for the most part, most of the time. But they have no adult taking them seriously and asking them about their day. On the day they have an argument on the playground, or lose the student body election, there is nobody they love there to talk to.

I wonder what the mental health effects will be if the 12 or 13 hour school day catches on.