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Year Round School

We need to go to Year Round School and longer school days. Throw in some "optional" special enrichment programs in the breaks as well.

One option for high school students in Year Round Schools who live near colleges and universities would be to take Summer courses during the Summer quarter. They'd take more intensive courses and would presumably have more time to for a summer job if scheduled properly.
 
PhDeac said:
We need to go to Year Round School and longer school days. Throw in some "optional" special enrichment programs in the breaks as well.

One option for high school students in Year Round Schools who live near colleges and universities would be to take Summer courses during the Summer quarter. They'd take more intensive courses and would presumably have more time to for a summer job if scheduled properly.
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I like all your ideas here, but why longer school days? Students are in class for 6 hours a day now in high school. It really depends on how that extra time is added if it is going to be effective.
 
I would encourage anyone with interest in this topic to read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. My niece had to read it as part of getting National Board Certified in South Carolina and let me borrow it at Christmas. The guy does an incredible job helping to identify characteristics that lead to success and much of it deals with the classroom. Speaks about the importance of verbal communication and how it can impact both high and low IQ students. Talks about the reason's Asian students score so much better in math. It shows how being born in the "right" month can give school kids an inherent advantage that sticks with them throughout their academic careers. It also attempts to answer the question whether the school system is flawed against minorities and are we looking at the right types of solutions to this issue. The Kipp educational model is depicted and discussed. It's definitely a thought provoking book for those seeking answers to a failing educational system. Just my opinion since the original post mentioned Gladwell.
 
deacsy said:
I would encourage anyone with interest in this topic to read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. My niece had to read it as part of getting National Board Certified in South Carolina and let me borrow it at Christmas. The guy does an incredible job helping to identify characteristics that lead to success and much of it deals with the classroom. Speaks about the importance of verbal communication and how it can impact both high and low IQ students. Talks about the reason's Asian students score so much better in math. It shows how being born in the "right" month can give school kids an inherent advantage that sticks with them throughout their academic careers. It also attempts to answer the question whether the school system is flawed against minorities and are we looking at the right types of solutions to this issue. The Kipp educational model is depicted and discussed. It's definitely a thought provoking book for those seeking answers to a failing educational system. Just my opinion since the original post mentioned Gladwell.
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All I remember from this book is that if you want to be a hockey player, have your parents hold you back a year or get born in January. That and if you do enough repetitions of something, you will be good at it. I think he sad something like 10,000 hours makes you a pro...

I fault my parents for both.
 
Board voted against it. After 10 speakers against it, Wifey went up there and crushed it. Lots of applause. Then it got voted down. Oh whale, still proud of her.
 
bmoneydeac said:
Board voted against it. After 10 speakers against it, Wifey went up there and crushed it. Lots of applause. Then it got voted down. Oh whale, still proud of her.
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Curious about those 10 who spoke against it. What were their reasons?
 
Mostly a bunch of one-off stuff that applied to them individually. Already scheduled vacation, child spends summer with Dad in New York, afraid that they won't be able to find childcare. Others were afraid that they were moving too quickly. Some concern about childcare during the breaks. There is fear of redistricting because we already have one YRS which is a school of choice (read: school of rich white folks) and those parents don't want their kids being thrown back into Gen Pop. We are a pretty poor county and the non-YRS schools are very diverse. My wife's class is roughly 1/3 black, 1/3 white, 1/3 hispanic.

There actually ended up being about 30 speakers with roughly 25 against it. Wifey was just the first to buck the trend. I know she was shitting bricks up there but she did an awesome job.
 
Those fears are all ridiculous. Summer has all of those issues but it's just longer.
 
Along with YRS, we should increase teacher pay. Starting salaries in many states, but North Carolina especially, are just embarrassing. Getting a master's degree as a teacher only gets you a couple grand more each year.
 
nevermind, don't want to derail post to talk about tangential stuff
 
Knight said:
This.

People who teach right now are INSANE (including my wife). My wife teaches 7th Grade Science in Forsyth County. She has a masters. She works about 11-12 hours a day (7-4 at school no lunch apart from the kids, then AT LEAST 2 more hours grading or lesson planning at home at night).

The receptionist at my office (who rocks out on Animal Farm for 8 hours a day with a full 1 hour lunch) is paid 2,000/yr more than my wife is. She has a high school education.

How fucked up is that?
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You know what else is messed up? They won't even let me teach secondary school in NC. I can teach college but not HS. I would have to essentially go back to school (yeah, NO) and get an education degree to teach the kids who are feeding in to my own classes. Silliness....
 
ChicdeaC said:
You know what else is messed up? They won't even let me teach secondary school in NC. I can teach college but not HS. I would have to essentially go back to school (yeah, NO) and get an education degree to teach the kids who are feeding in to my own classes. Silliness....
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NC has all but eliminated the practice of hiring lateral-entry teachers or non-certified teachers. You have to have a paper that says you can teach, that is all it is. It is silly. I couldn't even get interviews without having a license.
 
Most of the arguments against YRS come down to entrenched economic interests (especially tourism) that are opposed to anything that would reduce their access to cheap labor and high revenue during the summer season. I am not aware of any argument that YRS is not good for kids other than the argument that getting a summer job is more important than getting a good education, which besides being extremely dubious on its merits, is completely inapplicable to elementary and middle school students.

As usual in education policy, it comes down to arguing over what is good for the adults, not what is good for the kids.
 
Deacon923 said:
Most of the arguments against YRS come down to entrenched economic interests (especially tourism) that are opposed to anything that would reduce their access to cheap labor and high revenue during the summer season. I am not aware of any argument that YRS is not good for kids other than the argument that getting a summer job is more important than getting a good education, which besides being extremely dubious on its merits, is completely inapplicable to elementary and middle school students.

As usual in education policy, it comes down to arguing over what is good for the adults, not what is good for the kids.
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There are plenty of arguments that Summer Camp is really good for kids. I don't disagree that YRS is probably the way to go, though. Positives outweigh the drawback of missing out on camp. Summer Learning Loss is legit, and it sucks.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
There are plenty of arguments that Summer Camp is really good for kids. I don't disagree that YRS is probably the way to go, though. Positives outweigh the drawback of missing out on camp. Summer Learning Loss is legit, and it sucks.
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Sure summer camp is good for kids. The ones who can afford to go. Summer camp doesn't do jack for all the poor kids who are hanging out all summer playing xbox or on the street.

Plus as someone else said, the summer camps would absolutely change their product to adapt to the available vacation schedules if YRS was adopted large scale.
 
Deacon923 said:
Sure summer camp is good for kids. The ones who can afford to go. Summer camp doesn't do jack for all the poor kids who are hanging out all summer playing xbox or on the street.

Plus as someone else said, the summer camps would absolutely change their product to adapt to the available vacation schedules if YRS was adopted large scale.
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I agree with you, but Northern camps would have a hard time providing programming and staffing for the winter break periods to generate operating revenue. Most southern camps should be ok.
 
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