Lawmakers make laws to address problems in society.
Read Obama Proposes Longer School Day. Post a 1-2 paragraph comment on President Obama's proposal. Comments must address at least 3 specifics ideas mentioned in the article. #ign your name after comment.
I believe that the extended school day or year is a good idea. Students will have more time to think and learn in the classroom with a teacher there to help them. This would allow students to excel more in subjects that are not their personal best. I think with this program, each student should have his or her schedule made for what fits him or her best. If a student is exceptional in math, but not in english, they should have a longer english period verses a longer math period. The only way this could be a benefit to students is if you give them the extra help where they need it. If students did this, the US could possibly surpass other countries with technology and other aspects of life. The only down fall to this program would be if students are in school for long amounts of time, they may become so exhausted that they will not learn everything taught to them. Another could be that if they are in school for an extra 3 hours, if that have extracurricular activities, they may not have time for their homework anymore. I think that if students are in school for 3 hours later, homework should be excluded from their agenda. If the time staying after is only 10-20 minutes, at least cut them down on homework because they have been working hard all day to accomplish something for our economy, technology and future.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Scully
Lengthening the hours in a typical school day would be counterproductive to the cause of increasing student standards. As stated, the US requires more hours to a school day than most other successful countries. Students currently do not dedicate their effort to school due to the amount of time spent. A more effective method would be to redesign the curriculum for a more challenging lesson but in less time, rather than stretching class lessons. As for the amount of work, it has been shown that large amounts of assignments deters students from obtaining a proper education and possibly idealizing future goals. Excessive amounts of homework eliminates students social time. Another study indicates that anytime over 45 minutes on homework actually reduces the students education, today, the average student spends at least 1 hour per AP class. A simple solution to the falling student averages would be to cut back on school hours and homework assignments, and increasing the complexity of the schoolwork. If this were to be done, students would become more interested and become willing to learn
ReplyDeleteI believe that lengthening the hours of an average school day would be far less beneficial than many people believe. To most grade-level students, school is a dreaded part of the day that has little value in the overall scheme of things, rather than a place where kids will have access to almost unlimited amounts of knowledge. A large attributing factor to the negative thoughts surrounding school is the fact that it already takes up a large portion of the day, and year. Adding more length to a school day and/or school year may be perceived as a punishment to students rather than a helpful addition, and in result may further deviate students away from a successful educational career. Also, adding hours will not help students if they aren't given better instructors to teach them new things. A major problem with the educational system of today is that teachers often pile on work and/or threaten students with punishment for not doing assignments instead of making the learning of a subject appealing. If you just add more time with teachers who do less teaching and more disciplining like the ones mentioned above, all it will accomplish is further seeding a distaste for school in a students brain. What should be done is that additional classes can be offered to students on weekends and during the summer if the students are interested in knowledge and want to learn more. For kids who aren't interested in the sheer fact of learning new things, a reward system such as a grade boost or the opening of certain opportunities can be offered.
ReplyDeleteI think that extending the school day in the United States would do more harm than good. From my personal experience in high school, I have noticed that many kids already do not take the time given in class to do the work that they are given now. So adding more time to the school day would just give kids more time in school to waste their time. At least if kids get out of school the time that we do now, they can spend that time playing their sports, working, or taking music lessons. I also think that comparing our students to the students of other countries does not help Obama's cause because he does not really know what goes on in the mind of those other students in those countries. I think that Obama should worry about what the students of our country want because if he does this it may help students do better in school and this could bring our math scores up with the scores in other countries. However, I happen to agree on the idea that summer is a crucial time for kids. I feel this way because many kids that I know take advantage of their summer to work and save money for college and what not. Taking away someones summer could hurt them because maybe they don't want to go to college and maybe work is more important to them than school. I think that the Federal government should respect the ideas of these students and they should keep the school days the same for the sake of all students who are very use to their schedules.
ReplyDeleteStephen Ferzetti
I do not think that lengthening the school day or year would be beneficial to students. Most kids already dread school, and adding more hours or days onto the school year would make both students and teachers miserable. Homework poses a major problem in this idea, because not only will the students be tired from their long day at school, but they will also be deprived of participating in social events or after school activities due to their workload. The article states that U.S students spend more hours in the classroom in comparison to other countries, so extending the school day would be useless. Although I do not agree with the longer school day, I do think optional summer school classes should be offered. Though not mandatory, there should be a flexible learning option for students in the summer that will work with their schedules. Summer is a busy time for many people due to vacations and work, so having a learning option that they can work with will be greatly helpful.
ReplyDeleteThis issue would be more concerning to me as a student, if i weren't a senior. But the issue for me could be considered bad, yes its been proven that more hours equal higher test score. but it would also cause a moral loss. ive seen this every year that ive attended school. end of the year comes around and people get sloppy. they skip, intentionally mark wrong answers, and even forge their work. adding more time would only influence this behavior more
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, lengthening the school day or year would not be a good idea. I think that students in the U.S today already have a lot of stress that they must deal with because of school. Adding on more hours or days would just contribute to this stress. Students would not have time to be with their friends, play sports, or have a job because school would take up any free time they have. Although, I do think it would be beneficial to give students a greater opportunity to have easy access to extra help and tutoring if they need it. I think that summer classes would be a good idea for students who want to attend, but they should not be required.
ReplyDeleteMaking the school day longer is a topic that should be of concern to us, it may not effect us now but in the future when we have children it could effect us then. Sure having longer school hours has it's good effects but it also has some negative effects. Children already spend majority of their time and life going to school and being away from their family, if the hours were made to be longer then the bond between family would start to break. Another thing is most teens today have after school jobs and with labor laws a longer school day would cut into money that could be earned. In this day and time most people need the income. This article also talks about how lengthening the school day would keep kids safe and out of trouble, while this could be true it is not a school's job to do this, it's the children's parents job. In the article it also states that we go to school for more days then other countries, so they why should we lengthen the day if were already ahead in this way. Lengthening the school day may seem like a good idea but sometimes things are better left unchanged.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with president Obama, for lengthening the school day would not be a good idea. First, yes the kids are at a really good time for them to learn as much as possible, but that does not only happen in the classroom. Students learn a lot of important life lessons outside of school too. Also with kids sitting in school for 3 or more additional hours is going to lead to a more unhealthy youth. According to President and Michelle Obama they want the kids to exercise and play outside as much as possible, but how are they expected to do that if they are stuck in school.Kids should enjoy their childhood, not be stuck in school for half the day.
ReplyDeleteShannon Hackney
I think I have to agree with Obama because, it will benefit kids a lot more. It will benefit kids because there time will be more occupied, and by there time being more occupied by longer school days means less time for them to get into trouble. I also agree with it will help free up parents because they won't have to worry about leaving work early to pick up there kids, and parents will have a little more control over where there kids are because they will be at school. I ask agree with school being open on saturday is good because it would give kids a safe place to go to get away from things, do homework, maybe even to just relax, but it would be a safe enviroment.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Obama because extending the school day is not a good idea. Kids need time to play outside, and they should not be kept in a classroom all day. The longer school day will give kids less time to be in extracurricular activities such as sports. Thus, giving kids less time to play and exercise, which will make the kids even more unhealthy and out of shape. I do believe optional school in the summer or at night for kids would be good though because if kids live in a bad neighborhood it would be safer for them to be in a classroom learning instead of out on the streets. This should only be optional not mandatory. Also, if the school day is increased, this will cause more work and stress for students because teachers already give too much homework. No student wants to be in school for six hours and then go home and do six more hours of homework. - Phil McMenamin
ReplyDeleteThere are some concepts of the bill I agree with on Obama's plan for school. Some concepts I can agree on is to open it on the weekends and to stay open late, to provide learning for students actually wanting to learn or for the students that have parents that do not strictly enforce learning. However, I do not think he should add both school hours AND school days. Asian countries have less hours but more days and score higher than the U.S. Why not only select one to increase and leave the other alone, as it will eventually level out the test scores. -Kevin Ng
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the school day should be longer and I do not think the year should be all around either. People need time to take care of other things. Our lives do not revolve around school. Many people have jobs and play sports. Some even also have to take care of family members. Lengthening the school day can increase stress on already stressed out kids, and put stress on kids who are relatively stress free.
ReplyDeletelacy^^
ReplyDeleteExtending the school day is unneccessary. It would just end up making kids more unfocused and they would be more likely to skip school. Towards the end of the day for me, I start to lose focus on class and the material. In a school day that doesn't end until dinner time, kids would end up losing focus with 3 more hours left of school. Also, extending the school year would be counterproductive for the same reason. Kids will start realizing that it is summertime and they should be getting out of school for break but since Obama passed that law, they have to stay in school. I usually end up losing my focus on school around early to mid May. These kids would end up having three months of school that they were not focused on, resulting in bad test scores.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama wants to have more school hours then making the school day longer is not the way to go. If school was from 7:45 to 5:00, then the school would have to provide another meal at school. Most Children eat every 3-4 hour intervals. Also, many students are taking AP classes this generation, and its hard enough to finish the demanding work load of homework already. If they lost 3 hours at school, instead of doing homework, then it would be nearly impossible for students to take challenging classes at school. Even if there was 3 more hours in school, what would students do? Take a extra class? Make long endless classes even longer? I don't see how this could helps students at all. I think the best way to install more school hours is by increasing the amount of days of school instead. They should shorten summer break and extend other breaks like Spring and Winter. After the first month of summer break, personally, I am completely bored out of my mind. However, when Spring or Winter break is over, it feels much too short. Learning in a continuous flow is better than learning rapidly and then taking a break. Yes, there will be a need for more funding, but since Obama is spending money for everything, why not spend it on something important?
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