tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post4566921640195933059..comments2024-03-28T02:32:33.019-04:00Comments on Perdido Street School: Obama Daughter Visits Spain While Obama Pushes For All-Year Round Schoolreality-based educatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01712885202661371924noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post-79587164286127307792010-08-07T17:07:33.463-04:002010-08-07T17:07:33.463-04:00Yes, I'd love to take my kids to Spain this su...Yes, I'd love to take my kids to Spain this summer. I can't but I do take them camping and send them to wonderful camps. And if all Americans were capable of providing their kids these great opportunities, I would agree that summer should not be touched. But I know that many of my students are home watching TV and surfing the net. Some will speak little English all summer and will struggle to get back on track when school starts. I agree that we do not need more time in class but I am for a shorter summer and putting those breaks at other times of year. 2 weeks off in the fall, 2 in the winter will rest all our minds without letting so much learning get lost. <br /><br />And it is hardly hypocritical of Obama to let his kids have trips when they do have vacation. It would be idiotic to keep them home just because the school year might change in the future.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post-44091685867642941012010-08-07T14:43:29.319-04:002010-08-07T14:43:29.319-04:00Anonymous - I agree, it is the hypocrisy of the tr...Anonymous - I agree, it is the hypocrisy of the trip. Such ostentatious spending while the unemployment numbers get worse (if you add the unemployed who are still looking for work and those who have given up, the number is over 16% of the populace), GDP falls, they cut food stamps, they get ready to cut Social Security, etc.<br /><br />But there's always money for a trip for the First Lady and the First Daughter...<br /><br />Vin,<br /><br />My understand is that there are two ways to do year round school. You can split up the 10 week summer vacation over the course of the year but keep the same amount of school days or you can add schools days so that kids go to school for 220-250 days a year.<br /><br />The Extended Time Movement wants the second kind - 220-250 days a year.<br /><br />Remember the blizzard in NYC that shut down schools in February? Eva Moscowitz's charter schools were in session because "we can't afford to lose any school days!" <br /><br />Mistress Eva already has her students in school 220 days a year!<br /><br />God knows, 219 would just be awful!<br /><br />I like neither version of the Extended School Year plan. Leave summer as it is. Add programs that give children a chance to enjoy the outdoors, nature, the beach, etc. Also, add reading programs throughout the summer. But do not keep children indoors doing standardized test drills, as Obama wants to do and as Eva already does.reality-based educatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01712885202661371924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post-18408921772210778852010-08-07T14:20:07.876-04:002010-08-07T14:20:07.876-04:00Duncan knew before 2002 that Chicago Public School...Duncan knew before 2002 that Chicago Public School's instructional day was too darn short. The instructional time is the lowest of all urban school districts. By the tenth grade, a child in NYC schools, has a one whole academic year of instructional time more than a Chicago Public School student. Teachers have a headache trying to squeeze in writing, science and social studies. In Chicago we have added more year round schools. Year round does NOT mean more instructional time! The public thinks there is more instructional time. CPS plays it off like there is more instructional time. Ask someone more competent than I, but the year round schedule cheats teachers out of pension money in Chicago!! As you said, not all the schools who became year round schools have air conditioning! <br /><br />Obama and Duncan deserve an F. Not even close to getting the D. Duncan is a puppet that serves the privatization machine. He is disgrace!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04986133626654561239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post-85597249282538986872010-08-07T12:41:58.934-04:002010-08-07T12:41:58.934-04:00There is no doubt the current prez and first lady ...There is no doubt the current prez and first lady enjoy, a bit too much, the perks and trappings of the office of the president. Reliable lib and faux presidential scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin defended the obscene waste of taxpayer dollars for Michelle Obama on CNN last night by declaring "all presidents take vacations" and that "this wouldn't cost us anything". Well, it turns out it is costing us a fortune in secret service travel and accomodations just to start with. And very few presidents take wildly expensive trips to Spain in the midst of a recession and shortly after telling Americans to take trips to the Gulf Coast.<br />It is not so much the private schooling and the extravagant vacations...it is the hypocrisy therein.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post-60356105437589691182010-08-07T12:21:43.281-04:002010-08-07T12:21:43.281-04:00Have I seen the Carlin "American Dream" ...Have I seen the Carlin "American Dream" bit? I know it by heart! It is brilliant, just brilliant. I may have even posted it somewhere on my old blog (reality-basededucator.blogspot.com) and I know Perimeter Primate just put it up at her blog too.<br /><br />Yes, Carlin was dead right in that piece (actually he was dead right about most things.) I wonder what he would say about the education "reform" movement?reality-based educatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01712885202661371924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1628172601886929098.post-88984450543724171452010-08-07T12:03:13.884-04:002010-08-07T12:03:13.884-04:00Have you seen George Carlin's "American D...Have you seen George Carlin's "American Dream" bit? They want obedient workers, not thinkers. I teach in Wisconsin. What's happening in education is so disheartening, spirit-killing really. Thank you for 'bringing the noise' up in here. I read your blog daily. I hope the pendulum will swing and we'll get back to some common sense practice in our classrooms. Right now everything is so developmentally distorted. Our children are never given the credit they deserve. It's hard to be hopeful anymore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com