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Home Front: Culture Wars
The O Expands Kid-Care to Weekends
2009-09-28
Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.
Having finished my formal education in 1972, I agree.
"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."

The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.
Obamacare expands!
Posted by:Bobby

#15  You want year-around school? Fine - first make teachers exempt employees. Just like a lot of other professional office workers (like software engineers, DBA's, webmasters, etc...). No Union.

And then let the marketplace rule. Good teachers will be promoted and given appropriate pay. Bad teachers will either change (and become good teachers) or find themselves in the unemployment line a lot.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-09-28 22:08  

#14  Maybe if they concentrated on the important things - reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic (as well as critical thinking skills), instead of diversity, anti-drug, sexual training, etc. etc. etc., they could take a few days off every week and even a few weeks in the summer.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2009-09-28 21:28  

#13  I volunteer in a third grade classroom on Friday afternoons. The kids are tired already. And the govt is talking about Saturday classes?

The school has many students who haven't been taught proper manners, meaning that the teacher has to spend time maintaining order that could otherwise be spent on teaching. Longer classroom hours won't change this; it just drags the day on longer, because the kids are crankier and more tired. You can't teach kids who have had enough already.

And the teachers are often dog-tired by Friday too. So are they going to have the oomph to teach on Saturdays, and are the kids going to learn anything else? I doubt it.
Posted by: mom   2009-09-28 20:06  

#12  I forgot everything I was taught, but remember everything I learned.

A good teacher helps you learn. School should be about outputs not inputs.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2009-09-28 15:32  

#11  I'm all for year round education. Kids forget too many things during the summer recess as well as miss four years of educational time. There is no reason an 18 year old not graduate HS w/o the equivalent of a general 4 year college education or industry apprentice program.

Unfortunately, this Saturday program looks more like taxpayer funded babysitting leaving the parent(s) free to get drunk or high. I'd much rather have a structured (at their desks) after school homework time for those kids whose parents are away at work.
Posted by: ed   2009-09-28 15:17  

#10  BS, he has to buy support as the public support he has is in free fall.
Posted by: DarthVader   2009-09-28 14:59  

#9  ...buy support.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2009-09-28 14:07  

#8  School on weekends=overtime for the teacher's unions.
Jesus, is there anything this thief-in-chief won't do to but support?
I am beginning to believe we need to think about impeachment.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2009-09-28 14:06  

#7  In other news...Sidwell Friends School starts night shift.
Posted by: Besoeker in Duitsland   2009-09-28 12:30  

#6  Because that's not a Community Organizer's job of course.

(since it might actually solve the problem....)
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-09-28 11:20  

#5  ...to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.

Why don't we focus on making neghborhoods safe so the kids can stay there?
Posted by: DoDo   2009-09-28 11:11  

#4  Maybe if the schools actually taught as opposed to indoctrinate. This will just kick up the indoctrination time (and union payoff).
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-09-28 08:41  

#3  As with any government program, work expands to fill time, but not necessarily to increase productivity. Pay off to the Teachers Union. More money, more money, more money.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-09-28 08:12  

#2  And how are the schools gonna pay for this? Gotta pay someone to watch the kids. Or is it gonna be a Lord of the Flies type weekend?

Obama is really living in a fantasy land.
Posted by: DarthVader   2009-09-28 07:29  

#1  Childhood education, medicine, health care, diplomacy, energy, religion, war & peace, the guy really is a genius.
Posted by: Besoeker in Duitsland   2009-09-28 07:15  

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